


Havana Prairie

by RakshaStorm



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Death, F/F, F/M, Genderfluid Character, Homosexuality, Love, M/M, The Horsemen Rewrite/Spin-Off, Torture, panromantic character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-07 13:46:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12842451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RakshaStorm/pseuds/RakshaStorm
Summary: Tressa Than Mabuz has always been a little weird, and the end of the world doesn't change much. While Tressa has always had a list of people she wished to survive, there's only one at the very top; her brother Tetsuya Winter-Neus, a 13-year-old who hasn't spoken a word, even before the world ended.But when they find a prison and what's left of the Greene's, their plans to find a safe place are... complete.Now, working together with the Survivors and slowly becoming one of their own, both siblings feel alive more than ever... but what'll happen when Tetsuya's heart gets caught in a snare and Tressa falls for the one person who saw her fly?





	1. Summary & Notes

_ **Summary** _

Tressa Than Mabuz has always been a little weird, and the end of the world doesn't change much. While Tressa has always had a list of people she wished to survive, there's only one at the very top; her brother Tetsuya Winter-Neus Mabuz, a 13-year-old who hasn't spoken a word, even before the world ended.  
  
But when they find a prison and what's left of the Greene's, their plan to find a safe place are... complete.  
Now, working together with the Survivors and slowly becoming one of their own, both siblings feel alive more than ever... but what'll happen when Tetsuya's heart gets caught in a snare and Tressa falls for the one person who saw her fly? 

 

** _Story Notes_ **

This is just a rewrite/spin-off of one of my other TWD stories; The Horsemen. Though, it may progress a bit further than The Four Horsemen, and has obviously been shared before THM – I haven’t decided yet.  
  
This is what would have happened if Than and her brother, Tetsuya, had been taken in by their uncle instead of being left in the system. I’m hoping you’ll still see the old Than in the new one, but I also don’t want the difference to be passed off – if that makes sense?  
  
Anyway, a lot of things have changed; such as how she meets people and the timing of certain things. For example (SPOILERS FOR TWD AND THM); she wouldn’t have met Jasper when she did, she met her Before and both had agreed to stay close friends, rather than dating. She won’t meet the group at the Greene Farm, instead, she’ll meet them when they first arrive at the prison with a little extra you’ll find out later.  
  
They’re little changes, that will probably be explained – I just feel like getting to know Than without so much "darkness" in her would also be nice. 

Also, this is a very rough draft... so, yeah... 

 

**_ Author Notes _ **

Okay... So this story was never meant to run away from me like it has, because... well, I've never been able to stick to writing one thing to long for one reason or another. One of the reasons is I have all these ideas of who I want things to go but I just can't work my way to them, if that makes sense.

Now, the other reasons are a different case. I have DID, which basically I need to get nine or so ducks in a row before I can write a single chapter. It's hard but shit happens. I also get sick easily, so there are no update dates but I try to keep to my word if I say I'll update in a few days; I have three or so chapters already lined up for release, and counting, so I hope not to fall behind on releasing for any of you. The last "issue" I'm bringing up is that I have no editor and Dyslexia. I couldn't read properly until the sixth grade because of this. Anyway, because of the Dyslexia, my spelling isn't exactly great and I jumble words easily, and as kids are horrible growing up, I don't like sharing what my mind can create. In saying that I normally type everything out in _Word_ and I have a program in google that also checks my spelling ( _Grammarly_ ), so hopefully only a few mistakes will slip through. 

 

**_ Names _ **

For those that have actually read this chapter after seeing the title, you get a somewhat treat. I look through and find the meaning of names before giving them to a character, meaning each OC's name is specially fitted for that OC's personality, history, etc, etc; call it guidelines to keep the OC as I visioned them. This also means that not all the names are English in origin.

The following will tell you how to pronounce those name, their origin, their gender, and some of their meanings, to the best of my knowledge. It might not be much of a treat, but... it's something; normally, I just leave the reader to figure it out buuuuuuut... change is always nice when testing waters.

So, let's begin!

  1. Tressa - Greek - Female - _Late Summer_ \- T (To) R (Rat) EH (pEt) S (So) AH (cAr)
  2. Than - Greek - Unisex - _Death_ , _Brilliant_ \- Th (THink) AN (cAN)
  3. Mabuz - Scottish - Male - _Ruler Of Death Castle_ \- MA (MAY) BUZ (BUZz)
  4. Tetsuya - Japanese - Male - _Clear_ , _Philosophy_ , _Pierce_ , _Attain_ , _Arrow_ \- T (To) EH (pEt) T (To) S (So) OO (fOOd) Y (Yes) AH (cAr)
  5. Winter - English - Female - _The Coldest Season Of The Year_ , _Born In Winter_ \- W (Win) IH (It) N (No) T (To) ER (hURt)
  6. Neus - Spanish - Unisex - _Snow_ \- N (No) EW (nEWs) S (So)
  7. Jasper - Persian - Male - _Treasurer_ \- J (Jug) AE (At) S (So) P (Pet) ER (hURt)
  8. Ken - Scottish - Male - _Handsome_ \- K (Key) EH (pEt) N (No)



  
Thanks for reading!


	2. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everything calms down from the recent Walker infestation and returning with food for Lil' Ass Kicker, Maggie sees something on the horizon, and shit just gets weirder with an air guitar solo on the side. 
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 5 - "Say The Word"  
> Days since Outbreak: +309

**_ Prologue _ **

Maggie frowns, staring at the three figures approaching the prison. At first, she’d thought it was simply a horse, but as the figure got closer she saw the person riding it, along with the person who seemed to be dancing beside it. Immediately, she called everyone outside; they’d already lost Lori and T-dog, and Carol was also probably dead. It had been a big day, so it was no surprise when those that did come out had weapons at the ready.

They each watch in twisted fascination as the horse easy rode up to their chainlink gates with a boy about Carl’s age on its back. The second figure was harder to make out, gender-wise that is, but they seemed to be dancing and singing loud enough to draw the Walkers away from the horse and kid. The person seemed to sing and shout as loud as they could, all the while dancing around Walkers and swinging a scythe as if it was nothing.

Carl couldn’t help but snort with laughter as the figure began to play an air guitar, screaming the next few lines. Once there were Walkers in the way, the kid waved to Maggie before gesturing to the gate. Immediately they ran to it and the second figure grinned widely when they opened it, finishing the last of the Walkers and coming up to them as well, only stopping when the Survivors continued to hold them at gunpoint. The second figure steps in front of the horse and kid, drawing everyone’s aim with a sweet smile. 

“Hi there!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> 


	3. Chap. 1 - Dancing Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tressa and Tetsuya finally find lost family, new friends, a place to sleep, and a flitting feeling of knowing. 
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 5 - "Say The Word"  
> Days since Outbreak: +309

_AN:_ I'm only adding this once, so remember it. 

"This is speaking." and " _This is signing unless stated that it is also spoken aloud, which doesn't count when_  speaking _is referred to with Tetsuya. (E.g. She turns to speak to Tetsuya.) If it's like that it just means they are signing to him, nothing more_." 

The END.

 

**_ Chapter One _ **

Tressa hummed, walking toward the prison Tetsuya had spied from Death’s back. They’d made it there safely, hardly any Flesh-Eaters in their path until they drew closer to the gates. Tressa pasted her bag up to her little brother, along with the dagger she’d been carrying, and took the scythe he’d been carrying instead. She’d been unable to use the scythe on the way in since the trees were too closely knit together, and she didn’t want to have to struggle pulling it out of a tree if a Flesh-Eater happened to stand in front of it.

She’d heard the soft shout before covering her ears with the headphones that had been around her neck. The sound filling her ears; it was a mashup, like a fair few of the songs on Tressa’s mp3 – at least the ones that weren’t metal or rock. Smirking, Tressa danced around the Flesh-Eaters, singing at the top of her lungs to draw them away from her companions, as she played air guitar before getting to business again and slicing through them with her scythe.

It wasn’t long before the song ended, and they were standing in front of the gate, which opened as the group of insiders took aim at them. Feeling restless at having weapons pointed at her only remaining relative, she steps forward, drawing their aim to herself as the gate closes behind them. She gives them her sweetest smile, putting on the face she’s practiced for so many years; the one that makes people think she isn’t afraid of the gun in her face even though, deep inside, she’s trying not to piss herself.

“Hi, there!” She catches their eyes on her scythe and hands it to the nearest person, shocking them to the point where one guy shoves his gun right against her temple. “Sorry. You want it though. It’s what I’d want if people just rode up to my home.”

Slowly, her brother gets off the horse and when guns start to move to him she steps in front of him. Tetsuya peeks over his sister’s shoulder, tugging her sleeve as stress builds inside him. “Who are you?”

Tressa looks at the boy that looks to be the same age as her brother. “Tressa, but everyone calls me Than. This is my brother, Tetsuya.”

“How’d you find us?”

“Tetsuya saw the gate as we were going past. We thought we would check it out.”

“You all there is?”

“For now.” The guns come closer causing Tressa to clench her teeth as she starts to twitch. “S-stop, please… Guns aren’t to be pointed unless they are to be fired.”

Hershel takes that moment to push through the group. “Than? Tetsuya?”

Tressa brightens up slightly, though her arm begins to vibrate at a worrisome speed. “Uncle Hershel!”

Catching the episode the girl’s arm is in, he gently forces Carl’s gun down before raising his hands. “Y'all need to lower your weapons.”

Carl goes to complain but stops short at the older man’s look, though it doesn’t stop him from glaring at the two new people. “We need to lock them up, at least until we know what to do with them.”

Hershel doesn’t completely agree, remembering Than and Tetsuya from when they were staying at his farm; they’d been scheduled to come back when the dead started walking. None the less, he understood where Carl is coming from. “Okay, lock them in a cell, but I can assure you they aren’t dangerous.”

“They said they weren’t alone.”

Frowning, the older man turns to the Tressa with raised eyebrows, who immediately speak up. “Not true! I said for now; meaning we are alone for now. We have no other people. I’m hoping my family is still alive, which is why I said for now.”

In that moment, some of the Survivors seem to understand, something wasn't exactly normal with the newcomers, either that or they were playing some type of game. Carl and Hershel lead them to the cell they’ll be held in, though it doesn’t last long. The group has a meeting, Hershel, Beth, and Maggie each sharing stories of the two newcomers. With a little of their past open, it’s hard to keep them locked up, so they release them, Daryl keeping a close eye on them.

Maggie smiles at Than, offering the seat at the table she’s at. “So, what happened after you guys left the farm? It must have been awesome.”

“Not overly. We went to help refugees, guns were pointed at our heads, like here, and I was almost taken. We met some nice men on that trip though. We went all over again before coming back to America, wanted to surprise you all with an early visit but everything went crazy when we landed. Uncle Ken said we should still try to make it to the farm. You weren’t there.”

Maggie shakes her head, smiling weakly. “We were overrun, had to leave. We were on the road for a bit, spent the winter in a storage locker. How did you fair the winter? It was a pretty harsh.”

“It was, but we made it. Stayed in a house, it was tough…”

Nodding this time, Maggie offers her friend a water bottle, who takes it only to give it to her brother. “Has he….?”

Following Maggies line of view, Tressa shrugs uncomfortably. “Not a word.”

“You know… Me and Glenn are going on a run tomorrow. You’ve always been one to pull your weight, do you want to come? Tetsuya and your horse can stay here, I’m sure Hershel won’t mind watching out for him.”

Daryl grunts his protest, glaring at Maggie before storming off to no doubt talk to the older man about Maggie’s decision. Shrugging again, Tressa nods. “Pulling weight is good… Tetsuya will be safe, so I don’t see why not… But if anything happens to my brother, I’ll never forgive you.”

Maggie nods, having been completely used to this line by now; Tressa was always protective of her brother, at least that much didn’t change. Standing, she removes the girl’s hunting cap before ruffling her hair. “Than, it’s good to see you alive.”

“I’m glad you are alive too.” Watching the older girl leave, Tressa turns to her younger brother, watching him as he uses his hands to speak with Beth; one of the few Greene’s who’d tried to learn some form of communication with him.

Nudging him gently, softly apologizes to Beth before speaking to her brother. " _I_ _’m going to go on a run with Maggie tomorrow. I’m not sure what we are doing after this, I wasn’t expecting the Greene family. I want you to stay here with Beth, keep your eye on Death as well. Okay?_ _"_

Nodding, Tetsuya moves to sit next to Beth, knowing it’ll help his sister in leaving if he was close to her desired person, even if she were to leave tomorrow. Tressa turns to Beth, smiling weakly. “You’ll take care of him, I know you will.”

The blonde doesn’t argue, just nods before shooing the older girl away to resume her broken conversation with the boy; just because she could sign didn’t mean she was any good at it. Tress makes sure to keep them in her line of vision but doesn’t enter the inner cells just yet. She knew not everyone accepted them here and they’d only been allowed to walk around because of tales from the past.

The man Tressa had heard being called Daryl came over again, and though he was inside her personal bubble he also seemed to be aware of Tressa physically and refused to be within arm’s length of her, as if this was just an intimidation act, which it probably was. “Try anythin’, ya’re dead. Ya hear?”

“Understood.” Both stared at each other, the feeling of seeing each other before the world went to shit, bugging them both, though neither could place the others face.

Maggie returns, Glenn beside her and introduces the two officially. Almost immediately, Glenn recognizes the girl, causing a grin to spread across his face. “Hey, you’re that weird cheese-fetish vegetarian.”

Grinning, Tressa nods. “You’re the delivery guy.”

Happy that they somewhat know each other from Before, Maggie lets them be to catch up and talk about the food they miss, among other things. As the sun begins to set the group gathers together for dinner, though it’s clear some are missing – even Tressa and Tetsuya can see that. It’s not long before the two newcomers are being asked questions about their life, the more prominent one is about Tetsuya’s name; he _Didn’t look like no Asian_ as Daryl had put it.

“Tetsuya is named after our mother’s best friend; a man in Japan she met through our uncle. He died in a plane crash trying to get to the hospital to be with our mum when he was born.”

“That’s some dedication.”

Tressa nods. “When you are counted as family, it means you can’t get any closer if you tried. The Greene’s are a part of our family, and Glenn was close too; we shared pizza with him.”

Glenn chuckles, nodding his agreement as more questions were thrown at them, everyone slowly warming up to the new two easily. “So, where were you before this? I mean, you mentioned traveling.”

“Yeah, we were on our way back. We travel everywhere and anywhere with our Uncle, we go where we’re needed. It’s not that big a deal…” Tetsuya frowns, nudging his sister and signing fast. She cuts him off by waving him away before huffing, catching on to what he wants to be said. “We mostly worked in NGOs, non-government organisations, through Africa, but we also volunteered all over the world. We went to London and jumped from shelter to shelter helping those in need. China, Germany, Australia as well, though that was mostly to be farm-hands. America is probably our more frequented place. We’ve worked in family homes for the abused, homeless shelters, farm-hands, anything and everything.”

“Your parents are okay with that?”

Tressa tenses, glancing at Oscar; all of them had been introduced to each other and now it was only a matter of Tressa remembering who was who. “They didn’t really have a choice… Our mother died when Tetsuya was still a baby and our dad didn’t handle it too well; moved us all back to America shortly after. When Tetsuya was three, our dad went to prison. We jumped in foster homes for a bit, mostly stayed in Georgia, while they tried to contact Ken, our uncle since he was our only remaining relative. He was in the middle of the Amazon on an expedition. The minute he found out, he set us up with a place to stay until he could come back.”

Everything’s quiet and it’s Hershel who breaks the silence. It was the first time any of the Greene’s had heard the tale. “Well, I’m glad he was able to take you. We might not have met if he didn’t.”

Shaking her head, Tressa grins. “I think the fates would have still set it up that we did meet somehow.” Stretching as she stands, Tressa moves over to her brother, who’d fallen asleep just as fast as he normally did. Kneeling she picks him up with a grunt, shaking her head as Daryl moves to help. “S’all good, I got him.”

Raising his hands at Tressa’s scowl, he leads her to one of the cells on the upper levels instead. It had been decided that they would sleep in one of the upper cells where everyone could keep an eye on them. All their belongings were already there, Tressa having moved them after pulling out two cans of spaghetti to mix with everyone’s dinner.

Tressa manages to get her brother onto the lower bunk, nestled into the open sleeping bag she’d set up when putting the bags in here. “How long have ya both been awake?”

Glancing at Daryl, she removes the boy’s boots and woolly jumper before zipping him into the sleeping bag. “Tetsuya hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a few days.”

“And what about ya?”

“I haven’t slept more than a few hours since the dead started to come back.”

Daryl frowns, counting the number of days and coming up to about three hundred before giving up. It was quite impressive, in his mind, when he took in the looks of her. He hadn’t seen anything like her before. A quarter of the right side of her head was shaved short, while the rest was brushed to the other side in short curls, just past the nape of her neck in back and brushing her collar bones in front; the curls were a rainbow of neon blues, purples, and greens, while the shorter side was a dark brown.

Her skin was pale, the palest he’d seen in a long time, almost transparent really, and she seemed to keep it under the cover of layers. Yet despite her long-sleeved grey and faded pink graphic baseball shirt, he could still see the two tattoos below each collarbone and the bruising on her right forearm whenever she reached for something, causing the shirt to roll. And the piercings on her face made him wonder about where else she could possibly be pierced.

Despite her strange decision in oversized clothes – a pair of long cargo pants under a galaxy printed skirt with a green and orange flannel tied around her waist, watermelon socks that could be seen just above her 5-buckle biker boots, leather fingerless biker gloves, a grey fringed scarf, vintage flight goggles, winter hunter’s hat with ear flaps and fur, and the pentagram necklace that swung in place for all to view – she didn’t seem as mentally unstable as she had in the beginning, espically now that he knew a little about her.

Daryl could see that she was one of the few with a level head… but that also worried him because he couldn’t guess where exactly she stood. “What are ya doin’?”

Tressa looks at him, a frown on her face. “I don’t understand…”

“’Ere; what’s the plan ‘ere? Ya goin' to pull ya weight? Stay? Or are ya goin' to leave?”

“I don’t know… I was going to stay for a few days and then be on my way but then I learned I had family here. Maggie, Beth, Hershel… They are my family.”

Nodding, Daryl chewed on his lip. She seemed family orientated from what he could tell, he could only hope that she wouldn’t screw them over. Sighing, he walks over to the stairwell, taking up his spot for the night. Turning in for the night also, Tressa begins to strip, pulling the flannel from her waist, then the scarf from her neck. Normally, she’d pull off her hunter’s cap next, but Tatsuya had claimed it when they’d had dinner and it still sat on his head now.

She feels the gaze of another but doesn’t care as she continues. The baseball shirt came off next, revealing the black wide strap singlet underneath that’s tucked into her skirt, which she also removes along with her gloves, boots, and socks. Using a bed sheet that was near the door, she hangs it to obscure the bunks before climbing into the top one and pulling off her pants; no matter how hard she tried, it was never a good night when she had to sleep with pants on. At least she could sleep with a shirt on.

It didn’t make much of a difference to Tressa anyway, it’s not like her underwear was sexy or anything; they were a pair of simple grey cotton hipsters, nothing more. Hell, in her eyes the singlet was a bra because she didn’t have one when the world went to shit and couldn’t be bothered with it anyway when she had a binder in her bag that she wore when needed. Now, if she was stark naked, she’d be upset; it was one of the reasons why she saw her underwear as just an extra layer of skin, protective skin.

Huffing and rolling about, Tressa tries to sleep to no avail. Everything is too different; there’s too many breathes filling the space, too many hearts beating, too many people who weren’t family; who could hurt her and her brother. Grunting, she rolls out of bed by accident, wincing when she hits the ground, finally losing the energy she had, having nothing in her to move into a better position.

So, she stays like that, on her side with one arm at an odd angle under her and the other braced against the ground. Her eyes grow heavy and just as she’s about to sleep, she feels and hears the rustling of her sleeping bag as it’s taken from the bunk and placed over top her. The smell of musk and pine, along with something sweet, fills her nose and she smiles sleepily, murmuring a thank you before falling into the best night’s sleep she’s had so far. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, I get it - things are moving a little fast, but sometimes that's how the world works.  
> (SPOILER) Daryl and Tressa have always, in this story and THM, known each other before the outbreak - that never changes, even if it isn't known by either of them just yet. (END SPOILER)  
> And the Greene's have also known the Mabuz siblings since before the apocalypse, enough so that they were FAMILY.  
> I'd like to think that even after everything and before everything, that family from the past may be welcome just as fast as the Mabuz sibling... I know I'd be happy, accepting, if someone from my past that I counted as a family member came back to me in their situation. 
> 
> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> You know how this works ^_^


	4. Chap. 2 - Morning of Fear & Failing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up, Tressa can't find an important someone and the fear of failure begins to eat at her. At least the shower perks of being with the Survivors are good.
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 6 - "Hounded"  
> Days since Outbreak: +310

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note; unless stated otherwise it’ll mostly evolve around Tressa's point of view, but it will add in what others think of her as well since she may be indisposed, it fills things up a bit, and gives you longer chapters. That'll be until around Alexandria and Hilltop, give or take a few places here or there, as this is where Tetsuya will have more screen time.  
> Also, Tressa’s name will constantly jump from Tressa to Than throughout this story because while her name is Tressa, as stated in the beginning, everyone calls her Than. This is simply because of where the story was twisted from and from the fact that Tressa is Genderfluid, among other things, so she is happier with being called a more unisex name.  
> P.S. Though Genderfluid, Tressa is referred to as "her" - this is because it's easier to write. Also, I'm not sure about others, but I'm Genderfluid and go by her or she because (1) I was born a girl and (2) it's easier for my family members and friends.

**_Chapter Two_**  

The sun shining through her cell bars wake Tressa from her sleep, and she groans before sitting up slowly from her awkward position on the floor. Her singlet had ridden up a bit, exposing the piercing in her navel; one of the few she's collected over the years. Standing and folding her sleeping bag up, she pulls her cargo pants back on and singlet down before glancing at the lower bunk.

Fear flows though Tressa at the sight of the empty bunk. Forgetting the rest of her belongings, she runs out of the cell, hurdling over Daryl’s belongings and down the stairs. She misses the last step, scrambling across the ground in a panic, her voice echoing off the walls as she screams her brother’s name. The echoes of laughter flow from the common area, and Tressa’s quick to run to it, stopping short at the sight before her.

Tetsuya is playing a card game with Carl and Beth, both of whom are laughing while her brother smiles like he hasn’t in a long time, and, by the way Carl’s hands are moving, they’ve taught him how to sign. A sob escapes Tressa as she stands in the doorway before falling to her knees. The sound alerts the young ones and, upon seeing it’s his sister, Tetsuya is quick to run over. Crouching beside her, his hands move over her body as if checking for invisible wounds as he struggles to understand what is wrong.

Shaking her head, she pulls him close, sobbing into his shoulder. “I thought you were gone… that it was unsafe…”

Finally understanding what’s wrong, Tetsuya hugs his sister tightly, his words unsaid but not unheard. When she’d calm down enough, Tetsuya wiped at her eyes, his forehead against hers. Carl and Beth decide that now is a good time to come over, Beth smiling slightly. “I told ya, I’d take care of him, Than.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve been with others…”

Carl smirks, lifting a lock of Tressa’s knotted hair. “You look somewhat normal when you wake up in a panic; less crazy.”

Snorting softly, Tressa gently slaps Carl’s hand away and releases her brother, finally noting his clean appearance. “You look so clean!”

Tetsuya nods before pointing to Carl, who grins as he looks up at her. “It’s not much, a rag and bucket, really, but I get the feeling you want one?”

After giving a nod, she gathers a clean singlet, a flannel shirt, cargo pants, a plain grey skirt, plain underwear, and another pair of watermelon socks from their cell, before following Carl to the bathroom where a bucket of water was waiting already with clean washcloths. He leaves her to it, heading back to his friends to finish the game they were playing.

Tressa scrubs at her skin until it’s red raw and then some more just in case. She also does her best to clean her hair, knowing that while the colours were still obvious the threads themselves were stiff and had dirt throughout them. Once she felt clean, she dried herself off before dressing again. As she leaves the bathroom she ruffles her hair before trying to detangle it with her fingers, brushing it all to the left side of her head with ease.

Moving to her cell, she pulls on her boots, gathering the little things that made up her _crazy_ appearance; as Carl called it. As she walks back into the common room, she sees others who’ve just woken up. Maybe, the cells weren’t as empty as she thought in her panic to find her brother. Those that are awake all shoot her different looks, from anger to pity, causing Tressa to mumble an apology loud enough for all to hear before moving back toward Carl and Tetsuya; Beth had moved away to feed Lil’ Ass Kicker - a name, she'd been told, Daryl gave the little baby girl.

Flopping down beside her brother, she watches them play until others moving around them draws her attention away. Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, Hershel, and Beth, are surrounding Tressa and her brother; if it weren’t for Hershel’s calming smile, Tressa would have assumed they were going to kill them both.

“The council has decided if you do good on the run with Maggie and Glenn… Then we’ll let you stay if you like.” Hershel pats both of the siblings on the shoulder, a welcoming touch for Tetsuya and an alarming one for Tressa. The council was a working progress, people that could keep things running, as they'd been told earlier. 

“We want to test your skills, see how you survived so long out there…” Tressa nods to Beth’s words before looking at the table, chewing on her bottom lip as the nerves of failing and being forced to leave begin to eat at her; if she failed, Tetsuya wouldn’t have that safe place she’d been looking for.

“I’ll need my scythe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, short chapter. I try to make it so that one or two chapters fit with at least one episode of the TV series... unless I feel unwell or want you on a cliffhanger. :P 
> 
> Sorry for the long notes; I know they can get annoying, but I thought they were things you needed to know... before I forget about it completely. 
> 
> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> You know what to do ^_^ 
> 
> This has been sitting here for a week before I released it... HAHA!


	5. Chap. 3 - Guns and Blades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tressa goes out with Maggie and Glenn before meeting a man she thinks she knows but can't place.  
> Tetsuya sees Rick for the first time and worries for his sister. 
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 6 - "Hounded"  
> Days since Outbreak: +310

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was going to be posted on the night of the 10th of Sunday (I'm stationed in Australia so it would have probably been earlier for some of you - I also normally post on Sunday nights) to keep to my word about posting once a week... I need to apologize for not doing so... I've had a long-terror-inducing-traumatic-few days, and to be honest I was too fucked up mentally to even get on my computer... Technically, still am until Sunday 17th...  
> So... I haven't started the next chapter, it'll be about a week late if I'm doin' good mentally (So, not this coming Sunday, but the 24th) ... but this one was sitting here so I thought it was the least I could do and it would keep me a little okay for a while writing this note... Umm... It probably needs a little editing here and there - this chapter, I mean - but I've tried to do so before posting.
> 
> This does NOT mean I'll be going on hiatus - FUCK NO. I just need a few extra days from Sunday - hopefully, 2 weeks at most, worst case scenario - to line my ducks up in a row again. I like where I'm going with Tetsuya and Tressa, and I want to share it so you guys can like it too.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter will be later than this one, I'm sorry... and thank you for reading.

**_Chapter Three_**  

Tressa sighs from the backseat of the car, sitting up as it rolls to a stop, before getting out. Tetsuya had emptied the little belongings he’d had in his rucksack, giving it to his sister before she left; which Tressa was thankful for because she couldn’t imagine emptying everything from her own. After all, not everything was survival supplies and happened to teeter on the edge of being too personal for the others to see. 

Pulling at the earflaps of her hunting cap to ensure it isn’t going anywhere, she pulls the vintage goggles down over her eyes and raises the scarf from around her neck to cover the lower half of her face, tugging at her fingerless gloves before throwing the rucksack over her shoulder; the layers were Tressa's way of keeping the Flesh-Eater's blood of herself. She looks to Glenn and Maggie before pointing to the building and making a circular motion, silently telling them she’s going to look around, just in case. 

Scouting around the building, she slices through the skull of three walkers before returning to Maggie and Glenn, who open the door upon seeing her. Tressa waits until Glenn disappears and quickly catches Maggie by her sleeve. “’M staying out here if you both go in. I’ll look through what’s left…”

Maggie smiles, shaking her head. “Come on, Than. Just go in and grab the stuff you want…”

Tressa shoots Maggie one of her infamous looks, the one that says _you’re fucking mental_ , causing the older girl to laugh and nudge Tressa toward the door. Huffing, she pushes Maggie playfully before slipping inside, ignoring the painful twang in her gut, the feeling Ken had called _instinct_ and another uncle had called Than’s _natural abilities_ or _sixth sense_. A man she’d met once had called it her _shit radar_ and to never ignore it; Tressa ignored that piece of knowledge, even though it had saved her ass several times.

Unable to turn back now out of sheer stubbornness, Tressa skirts through shelves, unboxing and packing anything she finds interesting or worthwhile, including two cameras that Glenn had found, a few cans of food Glenn hadn’t claimed in his red basket, and a snow globe, among other things. After gathering everything of use and want, Tressa makes her way back outside, leaving her brother's bag near the door along with her scythe to help load up the car; Glenn had finished searching shortly after herself though he had yet to come out, and Maggie had stayed outside for the most part.  

“We just hit the powered formula jackpot.” Glenn grins, exiting the building with two baskets as Maggie walks over.

“Oh, thank god.” After allowing Maggie to see the amount of formula, he puts the basket down, balancing the second basket on his knee.

“I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards.”

“Double the batteries, corn, beets, fruit salad, seeds, and a few other non-edible things, such as the duck.” Maggie grins, shooting a playful wink at Than for not forgetting the toy she'd mentioned to Glenn when he'd entered, as she picks up the formula basket.

“It’s a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it home in time for dinner.” Frowning, Tressa nods, silently agreeing with Glenn but also with Maggie as she follows behind Tressa to the car.

“I like the quiet.” She stops, watching as Than and Glenn move things around to make more room. “Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are.”

“And where is it Y'all good people are calling home?”

All three of them spin around, Glenn and Maggie pulling out a handgun each, while Tressa pulls two push-knives from the pouch attached to her pants, under her skirt, that rests against her lower back. It’s one of the few knives she’d forgotten to hand over when at gunpoint; couldn’t blame her really, she had over sixty of them either on her, or her brother, or in their bags. Tressa also never had a gun.

In her mind, she only thought of the small ones as handguns, big ones as rifles or machine guns, depending on how fast they shot, and anything that could blow something up was a rocket launcher. The reason being for her lack of know-how was because she didn’t like the loudness of them, couldn’t handle it, and preferred hand to hand combat… with her knives, of course. Tetsuya was much the same in his gun knowledge, only far more experienced in fighting then herself. Besides, even though they had a father figure in their uncles, their time was mostly spent _avoiding_ guns.

There stood a bloody-faced man, aiming a handgun right back at them. The only difference was that instead of using two hands, he used one because the other was a blade. Tressa couldn’t help but admire the place where his hand once was and, some twisted part of her, wanted to cut it off and give it to her brother; Tetsuya was smart, incredibly so, and inventive. He’d go absolute bat-shit to see how it worked up close, more so if the blade was removable. She couldn't tell from here since there was a folded shirt covering his lower arm. Thankfully, before her thoughts could get any more twisted, Glenn speaks up.

“Merle?” Tressa tenses, but keeps her knives raised, the blade sticking out between her fingers as she fixes her stance. Maggie does the same, though she shoots Glenn a look. When he doesn’t lower his weapon, both girls know this isn’t a friend.

“Wow!” The man drags the word out, laughing ever so slightly and lowering the gun before taking steps toward them.

“Hey, back the hell up!” Maggie shouts, taking an unsure step back. Tressa shifts backward a bit as well, her hip nearly in line with the door to the car now; she wanted to be closer, but when he’d had a gun, she knew she’d probably just get in the way if shots were fired. The reason she'd moved now was that she didn't trust this man, nor how far she could probably through him, and because she simply didn't know how to handle the situation.

“Okay, okay, honey.” He keeps his hand and blade raised, his eyes set on Glenn. “Jesus.”

“You made it.” Tressa glances at Glenn, confusion washing over her before she took notice of the twinge as it began to grow once more; this was what she’d had the bad feeling about. This man was not a friend, she had to trust not only her family but her _shit radar_ ; Glenn wasn’t bad, even if he sounded like it in that moment, but this man was, even if something was telling her she knew him. And things were about to get worst, Tressa could feel it.

The man’s grin drops and some of the crazy leaves his eyes. “Can you tell me, is my brother alive?” The three of them stay quiet before he looks at them with raised eyebrows as if their somewhat stupid. “Huh?”

“Yeah.”

He smiles, nodding as relief seems to wash over him before it goes away and the man that had first seen them comes out. “Hey, you take me to him and I’ll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?”

Glenn and Maggie stay quiet, but Tressa moves forward a bit more, to stand beside Glenn, knives still raised and eyes lingering on Merle’s bladed hand. If it came down to it and he rushed Glenn, then the younger male would miss but, with Tressa there to stop the blade, he wouldn’t die. The younger girl didn’t worry too much about Maggie, as Merle was closest to Glenn, and the older girl would shoot him before he could grab her; she was sure of Maggie’s abilities, but she wasn’t of Glenn’s. After all, she'd seen Maggie shoot guns and the older girl when she's at her maddest. 

Merle seems to catch her eyes, and then Glenn’s and Maggie’s and laughs a bit when he follows their gaze to his bladed hand. “You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a-a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?”

“We’ll tell Daryl you’re here and he’ll come out to meet you.”  _Daryl_? This guy was related to  _Daryl_...? The feeling of knowing both men grow inside Than, eating away at her from the inside, but she refuses to let it show, she couldn't.

Merle begins to shake his head, voice raising as he inches forward. “Hold on. Just hold up.”

“Whoa. Whoa.” Glenn removes his hand and holds it out to Merle, a sign to stop. Thankfully the man gets it and Tressa freezes balancing on her toes; if he had taken another step, she would have down him.

“Hold up here. Hold up. Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle.” Tressa had to silently agree with that; once you lost someone out here, they were unlikely to be seen again… unless they were dead. “Come on, now. You can trust me.”

Merle was still shuffling on his feet and something caught Tressa’s eye as the light bounced off it. She leaned to the side ever so slightly, head tilted, and eyes widening at the object as she finally figures out she was wrong to move forward. “You trust us. You stay here.”

“Gun!” Tressa’s words are too late, syncing with Merle’s movements as he shouts and fires the gun he’d hidden in his pants. Twice.

Tressa moves instinctively, pushing Glenn down. Yelping, she drops, her knees touching her head, and covering her ears with her hands, whimpering when pain begins to flourish. Glenn rushes to the other side of the car, where Merle had run to, where Maggie was. “Hey, hey, hold up, buddy, hold up.”

“Let go of her. Let go of her!” Glenn’s frantic as he stares down at Merle, who has his hands around Maggie with a gun to her head, the panic rising more so when he hears the soft whimpering from the other side of the car that was no doubt coming from Than. He’d heard Beth mention to Carl that while Than seemed fearless, her second biggest fear was guns, especially loaded ones, which is why Hershel had told them to lower their weapons when the siblings arrived.

“Put it in the car, right now. Put it in the car, son.” Glenn does as he’s told, raising his hands afterward, as he slowly comes to terms with being the only rational one here now; Maggie was freaking out about the gun to her head, Than was struggling with her fears and, Glenn suspected, a gunshot wound, and Merle had always been a downright crazy prick.

“Now we’re gonna go for a little drive.”

“We’re not going back to our camp.”

“No, we’re going somewhere else. Get in the car, Glenn! You’re driving! Move! Get that other bitch in the car too! Passenger seat! Without her knives!” Glenn moves to the other side of the car, slamming the back door as his face scrunches with anger as Merle begins to yell at Maggie.

Kneeling in front of Than, he gently moves her hands from her ears, anger fading to worry as he sees the blood. “Than?”

Tressa raises her head at the touch of hands, whimpering softly as the ringing had yet to subside. Glenn swallowed, seeing blood matting the curls on the left side of her head, and knowing he can’t do much except for getting her in the car and hoping for the best. He helps her stand, mumbling apologies as he loads her into the passenger seat as instructed. Gently, he raises her arm, pulling the sleeve of her button up shirt down over her hand and holding it to her head.

“Keep it there, okay?” Tressa nods, waving him away as Merle begins to yell again.

As the car starts up, Tressa stares out the window, spotting a figure stand from behind the cars before slowly closing her eyes. 

* * *

_Tetsuya_  

Tetsuya sits on Beth’s other side, watching the girl mix the beginnings of either lunch or dinner together; he wasn’t exactly sure of this groups eating habits, having only been here for one meal so far. Tressa normally only ate breakfast and dinner, a habit Tetsuya soon developed after feeling guilty for eating while Tressa starved. Now, two meals were all either could eat in a day, any more and they felt sick, and that was post-apocalypse-size-portions. Tetsuya knew he was lucky; not everyone could eat twice a day, even Before, and he was only too happy to suggest that he and Tressa share their few cans of food if it meant others could eat a little more. 

He had yet to really explore the prison, staying with Beth even when Carl had invited him to clear out one of the other cell blocks. Apparently, they had a bunch of Flesh-Eaters come in and kill a few of their people; they’d only just cleaned up the yard, Maggie and Daryl returning from a run for baby food when the Mabuz siblings arrived. Tetsuya made sure to apologize for their loss but also thank them for taking him and his sister in as well.

Carl had nodded to that, the others as well, before leaving with Daryl and an ex-prisoner named Oscar. They were back now though, or at least Carl was. Daryl had yet to return and Tetsuya assumed that Oscar was in his own cellblock with his ex-prisoner friend for the time being. The other boy sat on the other side of Beth, his hands together, as he stared at the table. Tetsuya could only assume his fingers were cramping or he was generally upset about something… Maybe their missing friend, Carol, was dead after all…

Tetsuya freezes as the boy raises his head and another man comes in. Beth and Carl had told him about their leader, Carl’s father, Rick. He’d just lost his wife and was going through a state of depression, leaving everyone else to take care of Carl and the baby. Tetsuya hadn’t had anything to say; he himself had witnessed first hand what the loss of a loved one could do to a person, but he also didn’t agree with neglecting your children either; it was how Tressa and himself had ended up with the life they'd got.

Rick nods to his son and slowly moves to Hershel, staring at the baby in the elderly man’s arms. Tetsuya smiled, his head tilted as Rick slowly takes the whining infant in his arms, speaking softly to her. He was coming back and it may take a while but even Tetsuya could see it. Finally taking notice of the stranger in the room, Rick stares at the boy, whom just stares straight on back. Beth is the one to break the silence.

“This is Tetsuya. He and his sister, Than, showed up at the gate on horseback. We knew them Before.”

Rick turns to the older male, who nods his head. “They were scheduled to come back to the farm when everything happened, we thought they never made it. They happened to find this place by chance. They’re family Rick. Everyone wants them to stay. Than is on a run with Maggie and Glenn.”

Rick nods slowly before smiling slightly. “It’s nice to meet you, Tetsuya.”

Unable to talk, the young boy nods, returning the smile. Carl quickly jumps in before his dad misunderstands the boy. “Tetsuya doesn’t talk and struggles to hear a bit, but he can lip read – and he’s teaching me to sign!”

Rick listens as his son begins to talk all about the new boy and his journeys with his sister and can’t help but warm up to the pair, even with the older one away. Slowly they begin to move outside, Hershel muttering how Rick is in need of the sun, causing Tetsuya to smile amusingly; his way of chuckling. They all make it out, Tetsuya in front, and he scans the area; an old habit that started a long time when he was only little.

“She looks like you.”  Tetsuya frowns, spotting something on the fence and pulls on Rick’s sleeve hard. The older man follows the boy’s gaze before turning to Carl. “Hey, just – you got her?”

“Yeah.”

“All right.” Another desperate tug at his sleeve has him turning again. “Okay.”

Slowly, Tetsuya and Rick make their way toward what they’d seen; Rick because he was the leader and Tetsuya because he’d seen what the woman had in her hand and refused to stay. Rick draws his gun as they get closer to the fence, the woman reaching it just after them. The older man looks at Tetsuya before following his eye line to one of the bags hanging from the woman as well as the scythe she’d drop a few feet behind her, which she’d been using as a walking stick until they’d drawn closer.

Faintly, he could make out the darker letterings of a name and understood why Tetsuya had come along. The woman had his bag. No doubt the scythe belonged to his sister; Carl had mentioned something about her having one. The next thing Rick notices is the red basket of formula and, as she grabs the fence, Rick understands something terrible has happened to Glenn, Maggie, and Than, either by this person or another.

Tetsuya doesn’t take his eyes of his or his sister’s belongings, switching to look at his bag and her scythe as if they can reveal where his sister is. Panic begins to eat him as tears fill his eyes. Was this the price? The price of a safe place? Was it to lose his sister after so long? She was the only one that truly got him, that understood him, and not just because she could sign. They were blood… and now, because he had a safe place, she was probably dead… 

Some dark voice inside Tetsuya kept telling him it was his own fault she was dead, but a small weaker voice refused the thoughts of his sister actually being gone... she had to be alive, she was too tough to die, so she just had to be alive... right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> You know what to do ^_^


	6. Chap. 4 - Blossoming Friends & Flashbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya is denied what he wants but has made a new friend who's looking out for him.  
> Daryl finally remembers...
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 7 - "When The Dead Come Knocking"  
> Days since Outbreak: +310

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the beginning of this when I was sick; which is kinda funny when you think of it because Tressa probably had a concussion and Tetsuya was sick with worry - we were all delirious because of it so... yeah...  
> Anyway, I know it was longer than expected, me posting it but I wanted to try a few things differently. The first was writing for one of TWD characters and not my OC, I can only hope I did it justice.  
> I was also writing both this and the next chapter together before separating it whereas normally I'd do this, Than's POV, and then go from there. This took a little longer than I expected.  
> Another reason it took so long was, well, the trouble I mentioned before; it took longer than I thought to get my ducks in a row and then it was Christmas (which I completely forgot about). I did try my hardest though... so go easy on me, yeah?  
> HINT HINT - There's more Tetsuya in this chapter, not a lot, but a little more.  
> Also, I timed a few things and, on average, to walk about a mile and a bit you’re looking at anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes, thirty minutes tops. You’ll understand why I’m telling you this a little later and if not… meh. Here’s a little hint though; so long as your body is on guard, one can often find themselves reminiscing until time seems to fly around them.

**_Chapter Four_**  

_Tetsuya_  

Rick and Tetsuya watch the woman a while longer, Carl and Hershel on their way down from the prison; Judith no doubt back with Beth. She grabs her leg, drawing both their attention to the gunshot wound before she grabs the fence for balance once more… A mistake Tetsuya picks up on almost instantly, just seconds before the Flesh-Eaters turn on her like Hounds sniffing out their next meal. She drops the red basket and Tetsuya’s bag, staggering back and drawing her sword clumsily. When the Flesh-Eater that had first sniffed her out reaches her, she’s ready and stabs it through the skull… But Tetsuya knows, she won’t be able to keep them all at bay.

“Should we help her?”

Tetsuya blinks at Carl before looking up at Rick, hoping he will. When the older man starts to walk to the gate, Tetsuya is quick to follow, after seeing the woman drop her own bag and struggle backward as the other walkers begin to gather. Gunshots ring loud, even in Tetsuya’s practically deaf ears, causing him to freeze momentarily before continuing to walk a little faster. “Carl!”

He watches in horror as the lady now lays under the dead Flesh-Eaters, hoping to a god he wasn’t sure existed at the moment, that the only shot of finding his family wasn't dead. Rick seemed to think the same as he swore; though that could have been because the dead were still coming. Tetsuya stands a little behind Rick, flinching with each round fired off before his attention moves to Carl. The other boy had also shot a Walker or two getting the basket, Tetsuya’s bag, and Tressa scythe.

Smiling weakly, Tetsuya takes his and his sisters belongings. “ _Thank you_ ”

Carl understands quickly since the sign was one of the first taught to him not moments ago. He goes to respond back but is interrupted by Hershel. “Is she bit?”

Both boys watch as Rick does a quick search of her body before answering, glancing around as if the people who did this to her could appear any minute. “Gunshot.”

Carl grabs her bag and they both race ahead of Rick as he throws her over his shoulder. Tetsuya’s the first to reach cell block C and leaves his sister’s scythe outside in order to kick open all the doors with Carl hot on his heels. When they burst inside, Carl practically drops everything at Tetsuya’s feet, almost tripping him as he scurries off to do as his father is saying.

“Carl, get a blanket. Beth, water and a towel.”

Dropping his own things, Tetsuya quickly takes Li'l Ass Kicker, a name Beth mention Daryl had been calling her by, as the blonde practically pushes the infant onto him to do what she is told as well. “All right.”

“Here?” Carl’s laid a blanket out on the floor in front of one of the cages and the other boy can’t help but think it’s like their treating a wounded dog.

“She’s not coming in the cell blocks. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Steady now. All right, all right. Thank you.” After laying her on the blanket and trying to soothe her, Beth gives him the water and towels before taking the baby back from Tetsuya, nodding soft thanks to the boy. Rick begins to pour the water lightly over the woman, rousing her. “Shh. It’s all right, it’s all right. Hey, hey, look at me. Look at me. Who are you?”

The woman takes one look at Rick and at any other time, Tetsuya would have laughed at the look on her face. She freaks out, reaching out for her sword and making Hershel and Carl draw closer as Rick kicks it out of her reach. “Hey, it’s all right. We’re not going to hurt you unless you try something stupid first, all right?”

Tetsuya glances to the cell blocks, catching sight of Daryl and smiling slightly. The hunter merely nods at him before calling out. “Rick.” Frowning down at the woman as the others move back a little. “Who the hell is this?”

Everyone turns back to the stranger as she slowly sits up. “You wanna tell us your name?” Tetsuya gets an idea and moves into her view, signing behind Rick as he repeats himself, though by the blank look she gives both of them it’s unclear whether Tetsuya’s idea is good or not.

“Y’all come on in here.”

Rick stands, glancing over at Daryl. “Everything all right?”

“You’re gonna wanna see this.”

Rick glances at the woman again before nodding to Hershel and Beth. “Go ahead. Carl, get the bag.”

Tetsuya stares at Rick, then the woman, before turning his gaze to Daryl. If it was something important, the boy wanted to be there, but he also knew that he couldn’t overstep his bounds; if he wasn’t welcome to go then he wouldn’t… but he would have at least liked some form of acknowledgment. Daryl seemed to understand this. He chewed on his bottom lip a little before nodding toward Tetsuya’s bag and then behind him where the others had gone. Grinning, he grabs the bag and nods to Daryl as he passes, glad that he was somewhat accepted.

The only issue was he could still hear them talk since he was the last to leave - he wasn't completely deaf, after all, and today seemed to be a good ear day, even with his hearing aids volume a little lower than normal.

“We’ll keep this safe and sound. The doors are all locked. You’ll be safe here. And we can treat that.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Doesn’t matter. Can’t let you leave.”

Tetsuya watches as Daryl locks the doors before following beside the hunter as he leads the way further into the cell blocks, stopping beside a certain one. Sensing where this is going, Tetsuya stands beside Daryl, scratching at his arm as he tries not to watch, though he can’t help it, not even when Carl moves to stand beside him.

“How?”

Carol lets go of Rick, moving to the older man and pulling him into a hug. “Solitary.”

“Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated.”

The woman smiles upon seeing the baby before looking toward Rick, understanding that while one life was given, the mother was taken. She holds Rick’s face, her voice soft as she looks him in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”

She covers her mouth, looking back out the cell. She moves to the infant, her hands hovering over the tiny human, not wanting to touch her while dirty but wanting to at the same time. Then her eyes meet Tetsuya’s and a whole new wave of tears fall. “Shorty?”

She doesn’t hesitate to bring the boy to her body for a tight hug, trying hard to keep her sobs quiet. When she’s able to see again, Carol smiles at the boy, holding him close to her side as she looks at the others. Rick and Carl both looked surprised, while Hershel and Beth are just grinning widely, and Daryl’s smile is faint but there; they’d all found something they thought they lost, and it was drawing them closer to one another, even the Mabuz siblings.

Rick helps Carol back to the bunk when she gets a little woozy, explaining everything that he can in the short amount of time he has. Both her and Daryl nod and it’s quickly decided that Hershel, Rick, and Daryl would get information from the stranger. Tetsuya smacks his hand against the bars at this, glaring at all the adults before gesturing to himself. When they start to say no, he signs so fast not even Tressa would have kept up with it.

“Slow down! Tetsuya, I… I can’t even see what you’re saying!” Beth huffs angry but the boy just keeps glaring at Hershel, knowing the older man would have remembered a similar argument and willing him to say something to help the boy along.

The older man and the boy stare at each other, neither looking away before Daryl’s sigh interrupts them. Surprisingly, to the others at least, Daryl had been able to catch a few things and pieced together the rest – though, the most surprising thing to the others was that he could understand the boy to begin with. “They’re the last of their family, they’ve been surviving since Before, long Before. He says that you must let him hear from the woman, he needs to know his sister isn’t dead somewhere, that she has a fighting chance… He says he needs to know just as bad as he needs to breathe otherwise he might as well be dead.”

That wasn’t what Tetsuya had signed, it was close, but it also wasn’t. The young boy stares up at the hunter, waiting for the bomb to drop, but nothing happened. And then Rick _agreed_. “Alright… But you stay out of the way.”

Nodding, Rick sighs before leaving with Daryl following. Hershel stops with a soft sigh beside the boy. “I didn’t say anythin’… because I didn’t want you there, Tetsuya…”

The boy nods, understanding full well what Hershel was saying. Together they caught up with the other two and exited the cellblocks. The woman sat there, waiting since she had nothing to do. “We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way. But you’re gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula and one of our bags.”

Tetsuya stands beside Hershel, a little behind Rick, his eyes watching the woman’s every move. “The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl and another that carried the scythe.”

“What happened?”

Tetsuya signs, slow enough for Hershel to catch on, though the older man was already going to ask what the boy wanted to know. “Were they attacked?”

“They were taken.”

“Taken? By who?”

“By the same son of a bitch who shot me.”

“Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!” At the end of Rick’s sentence, Tetsuya jumps back, eyes wide at the man who was meant to be their leader; he’d grabbed the woman’s wound and had given it a squeeze causing her to jump up and push him away.

“Don’t you ever touch me again!”

“You’d better start talking. You’re gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound.” Tetsuya glances at Daryl, not as scared of his actions as he was of Rick’s.

“Find ‘em yourself.” Tetsuya sees red. He takes a step forward, hand digging into his pocket and grabbing hold of a folding knife, only to stop as Rick steps forward, right into the boy’s path. Hershel stares at the boy, only ever seeing him do this one other time with a stick and knowing that if Rick hadn’t moved, the woman would have had to deal with a few knife wounds as well.

“Hey, shh, shh, shh. Put it down.” Daryl lowers his weapon and Tetsuya slowly pulls his hand out of his pocket, watching Rick as he circles in front of the woman. “You came here for a reason.”

“There’s a town. Woodbury. About seventy-five survivors. I think they were taken there.”

“A whole town?”

“It’s run by this guy who calls himself the Governor; pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type.”

“He got muscle?”

“Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall.”

“You know a way in?” Tetsuya’s blood hums at the prospect of bringing his sister back, that she is indeed alive.

“The place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through.”

“How’d you know how to get here?”

“They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot.”

Rick gesture to Hershel before doing the same to her leg. “This is Hershel, the father of the girl who was taken. He’ll take care of that.”

Tetsuya watches as they leave before looking at Hershel and the woman. The older man shakes his head. “I’m fine here, Tetsuya… And could I really stop you?” The boy shakes his head and, after a final dismissing hand wave from the older man, he chases after Rick and Daryl. Catching the woman’s eyes, Hershel smiles. “The one with the scythe is his sister, they’ve never been apart for more than a few hours. Seeing you with her weapon has set him on edge… he probably thought she was dead.”

The woman nods slowly, remembering the broken look on the boy’s face when he’d seen her at the fence and feeling guilty to have caused it now that she’d been told. Tetsuya watched as Carl was sent to watch the woman while Hershel fixed her leg and then frowned as he was sent to get Oscar and Axel. He’s about to protest but gave up after both Daryl and Carol gave him a look.

It didn’t matter much anyway, who he’d have to get. He liked Oscar, and the man liked him. Both listened and talked to one another, although Tetsuya had to rely mostly on drawing the letters in Oscar’s hand to communicate. But the older man was patient, repeating and explaining anything that the boy didn’t hear or know. They were close in the very short time they’d met outside; Tetsuya had needed a breather after waking up from a nightmare on his first night. He’d been quiet, sneaking past Daryl and just stood outside for a bit while the sky changed colour. Oscar had joined him and from there, a new friendship blossomed between them. Both had headed inside with their conversation when Daryl had come out as more colour flooded the sky.

Axel was… a little different. Tetsuya didn’t know how to treat Axel, and the feeling was mutual. Despite knowing the boy wasn’t completely deaf, Axel would talk with his hands all over the place, often shouting his words, and his knowledge of sign language was non-existent, preferring to use his own form of sign language that was just another version of him talking with his hands. Because of this, the boy couldn’t hold one full conversation with the man without getting upset or mad. Tetsuya knew Axel didn’t mean any harm and was just trying to be friendly. But still... it was infuriating. 

Sighing, Tetsuya doesn’t need to go far, rounding the corner to spot them. Apparently, they’d seen the woman arrive and had stuck around to see the interrogation too. “You sent to get us, kid?”

Nodding, the boy tilts his head back and the two ex-prisoners follow him to where the others are sitting. Carol’s taken the stares with the baby in her arms as Beth paces. Rick nods to Oscar and Axel, explaining the situation and new information he has on Glenn, Maggie, and Than’s whereabouts. Axel moves to lean against the wall, watching Hershel and Carl. Oscar is the first to speak.

“How do we know we can trust her?”

“This is Maggie and Glenn. Than, too.  Why are we even debating?”

“We ain’t. I’ll go after them.”

Tetsuya thumps his chest, nodding in agreement and clearly stating he’ll go too, though the others ignore him. “Well, this place sounds pretty secure. You can’t go alone.”

“I’ll go.”

“Me too.”

Tetsuya thumps his chest again, finally drawing their attention and Oscar stares. The boy was mute, partially deaf, and he’s risking his neck… Sighing, he nods ever so slightly. “I’m in. So long as he isn’t.”

Rick looks at Oscar than to the boy before nodding. “Alright.”

A strangled, indescribable sound leaves the boy’s lips as he thumps his chest again, tears welling in his eyes. When no one fights his case, he turns to Carol, then Daryl, even Beth, but they all refuse to fight for him, all agreeing that he should stay here. Tears flow down the boy’s face as he thumps his chest repeatedly, silently demanding to go before Oscar manages to pull him aside, allowing the others to disembark and gather supplies. “Little man – “

He doesn’t get the rest out, grunting instead as the boy hits his chest repeatedly. Sighing, he kneels and pulls him into a hug, ignoring the boys struggles because soon… Tetsuya is sobbing against him, drawing letters into his back. “ _WHY?”_

“Your sister would kill me if you went, kid. I’ll get her, and we’ll come back. Okay? We’ll be walking through those gates together and I’ll be telling her what a great kid you are because that’s the truth. And she’ll see you and she’ll be so happy. But you need to stay here, where it’s safe, where she can find you, where you can’t get hurt. Understand?”

Swallowing, Tetsuya slowly nods, wiping his nose on the older man’s sleeve. Slowly, he spells out his next words carefully. “ _YOU HAVE TO COME BACK TOO._ ”

Oscar’s eyes water and he nods, slowly at first before picking up momentum. “Course I’ll come back too. You still need to teach me to sign.”

After Tetsuya had calmed down, both he and Oscar head outside. Nobody takes a second glance at the boy’s blotchy tear-stained face, rather most of them were trying to figure out how the two had gotten so close in such a short time, which only lead them to the thought of how both Mabuz siblings had gotten to be so close to the others already… It was truly a mystery. Both just seemed so compatible with everyone in their own quirky way.

Outside, it’s decided that the group will only consist of Rick, Daryl, Oscar, and the sword-wielding woman. Beth is a little upset about this but understands better then Tetsuya first had; Hershel had lost one daughter already, a second would destroy him, especially if they both turned out dead… or worse. Oscar immediately goes over to help Daryl pack the trunk.

“I got the flash bangs and I got the tear gas. You never know what you’re gonna need.” Seeing Carl struggle with all the bags, he moves to help, only managing to get one of the three out of his arms, but Daryl appears to help, taking the second heavy bag with a soft hey. They all load up the car, Carl moving to the side a little for Tetsuya to get in once he’s done. “Hey, don’t worry about your old man. I’m gonna keep my eye on him.” When Carl nods, he turns to Tetsuya. “And I’m gonna get your sister too.”

Tetsuya smiles warmly as Daryl tries to sign the last part; his handwork is childish, as if only just learning the movements, yet tactful, making sure each one is right and not screwing up as bad as everyone would have originally thought. Having gotten his confirmation, he slaps both boys on the back ever so slightly before turning away to finish up. Tetsuya’s about to walk away, unsure of where exactly to go but knowing he’d most likely wind up with Carol.

Yet before he can, his movements are stopped by Carl, who pulls him a little away from the others but keeps a firm eye on his dad. “Hey, I was thinking about what you said earlier.”

It takes Tetsuya a moment to understand before slowly nodding as the memory shows up. Carl had been talking about the morning after they’d arrived. While everyone had been sitting down to breakfast, Tressa had pulled Tetsuya away to talk and see how the others were treating him. During that time, both Tetsuya and Than had missed Rick’s quick check-in and even quicker check-out. It had been shortly after Tressa’s shower when it had happened and, given what was said, it had probably been a good thing that he hadn’t seen either of the siblings; not until he was ready. As is Rick had caught Tetsuya off guard, the young boy vaguely remembering, too late, that Than had told him to hide until the other’s thought Rick was more stable.

After Rick had appeared and disappeared at breakfast, Carl had come to talk to the boy too. He’d heard more tales from the Greene’s and even Glenn, and had decided to seek the mute boy’s advice. The baby still needed a name, everyone knew they couldn’t leave it as  _Lil’ Ass Kicker_ , even if it was an awesome name. He’d heard stories about how the Mabuz siblings knew the meaning of names like the back of their hand and, not understanding, the Greene’s had explained it. Most children born in the Mabuz family remained unnamed for several days, sometimes even weeks or months, before the parent would find a name suited for the child because to them it wasn’t the name itself but the meaning behind the name.

Maggie had gone as far as saying that the indecisiveness for names was a trait that both siblings inherited, even if they’d shot the gun with Tetsuya’s name. Despite not understanding her last comment, Carl had thought that maybe… the Mabuz siblings could help him name his sister. So, he’d searched for the youngest after breakfast.

 

** FLASHBACK **

“I need your help.” Tetsuya and Than had shared a look before the oldest had left the two alone. “My sister needs a name. I’ve thought of a lot of them, people we’ve lost but… We lost them, you know? She shouldn’t be named after someone we lost and even if we did… who would we name her after?”

The silent boy had merely sighed and shaken his head. “No? What do you mean _no_? I need you to help me, please.”

Again, Carl had gotten a shake of the head but before the boy could get angry, Tetsuya had handed him a quickly scribbled note, as if he’d _expected_ Carl to come asking for help with a name. Narrowing his eyes, Carl read over the note multiple times, not understanding even with the explanation given.

_IT IS NOT MY JOB AS A MABUZ TO NAME THE NAMELESS. WE THINK AND THINK AND THINK, BUT MOST OFTEN THE NAMES WE GIVE ARE… TWISTED, MENT ONLY FOR DEATH OR PAIN. IF YOU KNEW THE MEANING OF OUR NAMES, YOU’D BE HORRIFIED. YOU DO NOT WANT ME NAMING YOUR SISTER, CARL._

“What am I going to do then…?” Tetsuya smiled weakly before taking the note and turning it over. The handwriting was messier on this side and seemed to be more from Than then her younger brother.

_WHILE OUR NAMES ARE TWISTED, NOT ALL THE ONES YOU KNOW OF ARE._

Underneath that, in Tetsuya’s hand once more was four simple words. Words the got Carl both gleeful, mad, and sad; dropping the note, he’d left.

_THINK OF YOUR PAST._

** FLASHBACK END **

 

“I wanted to say sorry… for how I’d left… I still don’t understand, and one day, I’m going to get you to explain it to me but for now… I have a name for her… I thought – “

Quickly, Tetsuya covers his mouth, muffling Carl’s words and causing the other boy to glare. Nodding toward Rick, the silent boy releases the Sheriff’s son with a smile. Understanding washes over Carl’s features. “I should… I should probably tell dad first… right?”

Nodding, Tetsuya gives him a little push and watches the father and son converse away from hearing ears. When they’re done talking, the car is ready to go. Tetsuya moves to Oscar, grasping the older man’s forearm and pulling him into a hug, which Oscar quickly returns having already realized that Tetsuya didn’t just touch anyone willingly. After a wave and mumbled goodbye, the boy moves to stand with Hershel and Beth.

“Bring ‘em back.” Rick nods, looking the three over quickly before sliding in.

Tetsuya almost completely forgets about Daryl, racing over to the other man and catching his arm. The boy stares up at him silently and gets the same stare back. Everyone’s slightly shocked, knowing that not only Daryl but Tetsuya too, weren’t very big on long amounts of eye-to-eye contact. Daryl nods slowly before leaning down, whispering in the boy’s ear, soft enough that the others don’t hear, but loud enough that Tetsuya does. “’Mm a get her back. Swear, on my life.”

The boy continues to stare before nodding, taking the older man’s forearm in his hand and giving it a firm shake. “ _I’m holding you to that._ ”

“Wouldn’t expect anythin’ less.” Sharing one last nod, the boy watches as they slowly drive away, Axel opening and closing the gate for them.

In that time, Carol comes over with the baby in her arms. “He will, you know…. Daryl always brings them back.” 

" _I know..._ " Carol didn't question the boy, or how he knew, instead choosing to nudge his shoulder lightly. 

"We have a lot to catch up on, Shorty." Tetsuya nods, smiling slightly before leaning against her. 

" _Later, please?_ _"_ She seems to think about it, pondering, before raising a single eyebrow in question. " _I want to catch up... It's just..._ " 

"Your sister... Okay, I'll give you until tonight. But you have to tell me then, alright?" 

Tetsuya nodded before moving to walk around some, he didn't stray far, just moved away from the others for some alone time. At least, that's what he intended to do before Carl walked over. Alone time was a blessing in Tetsuya's eyes; he didn't have anyone expecting anything of him and he could just be without bothering others. He'd said as much to Oscar when he'd joined him that first morning, though the man didn't understand at first since they hadn't established their skin-talk yet. He'd quickly caught on though, and they had something to talk about; a distraction to the boy's alone time. He'd had very little alone time since, and he was kind of hoping to have it now. He didn't say this to Carl though, as the other boy walked over to him and grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the door. Tetsuya struggles slightly, fighting against Carl before the other boy turns to him in confusion. 

"Stop. We need to get you a gun. That way, we can patrol." 

" _Patrol? Why are we- Your father left you in charge._ " It wasn't a question, and it took a moment for Carl to understand before he answered. 

"We need to protect this place while they're gone." Simple, easy. Tetsuya could see the logic in it... except why _he_ had to patrol. Catching on, Carl rolls his eyes, no words needing to be said for him to understand. "Because I don't want to do it alone, and you aren't allowed to be alone." That hurt a little more than Tetsuya thought it would; he'd been certain he was making progress with everyone... but maybe he'd been wrong.

Carl's quick to shut down the other boy's line of thoughts, shaking his head and feeling guilty as he'd watch Tetsuya's face twist in  _hurt_ ; there was no other word for it in his book. "That's not what I meant. Look, your sister is with Glenn and Maggie, we don't even know if they are alive, we just hope, right? I've seen and heard what hopelessness can do to someone... when they just give up. I'm making sure that you don't." 

Tetsuya's expression loses the hurt, taking on a more breathless look; he hadn't thought Carl would have said something and, just by the other boy's slight blush, it was clear he hadn't meant to say as much. Yet, it still mystified him. He wouldn't do anything like hurt himself, he couldn't do that to the people who loved him like his sister, and his alone time wasn't him giving up, it was just him needing to process everything and be away from people, but he was grateful none the less that Carl would worry about him in such a way. Smiling at the blue-eyed boy, he shakes his head slowly, pulling out a pair of his knives. 

"Never used a gun before, huh?" Carl sighs as the emerald-eyed boy shakes his head before grabbing his arm and dragging him to the fence. Taking the hint, he takes the lead, both of them patrolling the fence. "She'll be alright, you know... She has to be." 

* * *

_Daryl_  

The car glides to a stop, breaking Daryl from his thoughts as he jumps out of the car to grab his things. He’d been thinking of what he’d said to Tetsuya, about promising to bring his sister back… and he’d been thinking about why he’d said it. Some part of Daryl knew he knew her from somewhere, knew it better than tracking, but the part that knew wouldn’t share. Instead, it forced promises from his lips he wasn’t sure he could keep. It was pissing him off and worrying him at the same time. He barely catches the woman mentioning the place is a mile or two away, barely remembers to grab the correct backpack, and barely remembers the undead are upon them until one so garishly growls a little down the road.

Closing the trunk of the car, he follows behind Rick, eyes on the Walker until they’re in the trees. He’s just about to lose himself in his thoughts again when Rick begins talking to him. “I know, what you did for me, for my baby, while I was… working things out. Thank you.”

Daryl doesn’t tell him how Rick had scared everyone, that he didn’t give anyone else an option, that Daryl himself couldn’t mentally handle the loss of another from his family, even if Li’l Ass Kicker was only a few minutes old. He didn’t tell Rick any of this, preferring to keep it simple, in a way the other wouldn’t take offense or feel guilt, in a way that was true for everyone in their group. “It’s what we do.”

A comfortable silence follows before the snarling of Walkers draw his attention to the one problem that could kill them out here if they were taken by surprise. Ducking, Daryl gesture in the Walker's general direction. “Rick.”

Immediately the other male hushes his voice, ducking. “Down.” The four of them watch as Walker after Walker appears seemingly out of thin air. “Formation. No gunfire.”

The three males do as plan, hitting the first three before moving back as more and more show up. “There’s too many of ‘em.”

Narrowing his eyes, Rick turns, leading them away only for more Walkers to appear. Grunting, he flicks his gaze through the trees before taking the clearest route in sight. “This way.” A building comes into sight and Rick quickly points it out to the others. “Through there. Come on.”

They all get in the building one at a time, the woman getting the door when Rick orders it, before ducking slightly with the other three males. Daryl scowls, bringing his hand to his nose as the foul stench of _something_ hits him; it was so unlike Walker-stench, it almost threw him off. “The smell, it’s loud.”

Moving forward with his knife raised, he searches around before finding the source just as Rick does, his light landing on it. “What the hell is that?”

Glancing at Oscar, Daryl tries to keep the nauseating feeling down; the longer you stood in here the worse it seemed to get. There was just no getting used to the goddamn smell! “It’s got to be a fox or what’s left of one. I guess Lassie went home.”

A crack draws their attention to the door they’d just entered, Walkers now pressed up against it, trying to get inside. Rick turns, the beam of light catching the lump in the bed. Maybe the fox wasn’t the only thing stinking up the place. Making a soft sound to signal the others, he creeps forward, Daryl at his side as he grabs the blankets and gives them a firm yank. A man, a _hermit_ , shouts, standing from the bed armed with a shotgun.

The rest moves fast in Daryl’s mind, his only thought of the man threatening his family with a gun. The next thing he knows is Rick grabbing the barrel and just barely ducking out the way as the hermit shoots it. Daryl watches as the man escapes Rick’s hold and runs to the door, only to be struck down by the woman’s sword. Moving to the door, he watches as Walkers tear through the planks, looking back at Rick and the hermit before an idea hits him. “Remember the Alamo?”

“Yeah. Help me with the door.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding.”

Rick glances at Oscar, his blue eyes hard. “He’s dead. Check the back.”

“It’s clear.” Nodding, Rick counts to three and both he and Daryl shove the hermit out the door, using him as bait to buy them more time so they can get the hell out of dodge.

It’s probably been about five minutes, maybe ten, since they’d left the hermit’s house and the herd of Walkers with it. Since then none of them had seen or heard any of the dead; in saying that, they keep their guards up anyway. Daryl’s never been one to think while in the woods, especially not now with the dead roaming around but, in this moment, he allows himself to scratch at the mental itch he’s been ignoring that’s been growing more persistent the longer he knew, thought about, or even saw one of the Mabuz siblings.

And once he scratched the itch… the dam broke. Memories of a girl he’d once known washes through him, sending him into an internal frenzy while externally he merely sucked in a soft breath as his muscles tensed. Thankfully, the other three were to busy in their own thoughts, merely sparing him a quick glance to confirm he was there and not under dire circumstances.

Echo, after echo, of the girl hits him like a thousand Warrior wasps striking him repeatedly wherever they can, though most seem to be aiming for his chest, hoping to pierce through his flesh and bones to get at his heart and lungs. He’d read something about those insects once before, about how they were meant to have the worst sting to date… and if this pain was like their sting, then he was doomed. He’s hopeless against the scorching stings as they pull him under their fiery depths into the memories he’d kept sealed away in the darkest, yet brightest, parts of his mind.

 

** FLASHBACK **

Daryl huffs, glancing at Merle in the driver’s seat for what feels like the hundredth time. He’d yet to lose that infuriating smirk; hadn’t even dropped it to shout profanities at bad drivers. “Where we goin’, Merle?”

The older brother’s smirk seems to grow as he glances at Daryl. “I got us some tail, little brother.”

Daryl raises his eyebrows, this being the first time he’d heard of this. “What?”

“Yeah, I met this hottie in a bar, said she wanted to get together to have some fun. Naturally, I asked about a friend for you and she said to meet us at the ice rink. She’s a skater or somethin’.” Daryl snorted; there was no way his brother would ask about another woman for him. The woman he had either planned to go out with friends beforehand or something close to that.

Finally, they pull up outside the rink and head in just as the last of the skaters seem to be getting off the ice. One such skater, a brunette with big brown eyes prances over, jumping into Merle’s arms and slapping a big kiss on his lips. Rolling his eyes, Daryl turns away to watch the rest of the people leave. The brunette taps his shoulder before pointing to the rink, her accent thick. “She’ll be on the ice in a bit, ‘kay?”

And with that, both were gone, utilizing the empty skater’s change room with giggles and moans. Sighing, he sits near the windows that run along the wall, cranking it open just a little in case he was chased out of here; it wasn’t the first time he was chased out of a place because Merle had fucked up. Now, it was only common sense to sit near an exit but not _the_ exit; less chance of being caught when you take an unexpected route.

The lights suddenly go out, scaring the crap out of Daryl until he spots a girl walking out of the music booth and onto the ice. She must have moved there when he’d turned to open the window because he’d done a sweep of the area with his eyes and hadn’t seen hind nor tail of her. She couldn’t have been older than twelve and she was short. She runs her fingers through her hair, loosening it from the bun against the nap of her neck. The orange elastic tie found its way to her wrist as her brunette curls flowed just above her shoulders, the back slightly longer than the front.

Her fringe was long, split on the left side like the rest of her hair, and hung in front of her face as if to conceal the upper half of her face like a mask. Much like her friend, the girl wore a skating dress, this one blue in colour with different lengths of torn material on it. Though, unlike her friend, the girl needs to remove a thick coat to reveal it. The sleeves are clear until the back of her hands and wrists, where it feathers in the torn material once more. When she turns to throw her coat over the wall separating the ice from the concrete, her back is turned to him, allowing him to see the ‘V’ of her dress, the bottom ending at her lower back, while the tops came over her shoulders where more torn material seemed to hang on thin threads, as if wings waiting to be caught in the wind.

The music starts, a sad number of violins and piano keys. His eyes widen as she begins to dance, gliding across the ice, swaying, leaping, jumping, turning, spinning and spinning and spinning. Each move she made seemed to make her pick up speed, allowing her to soar and then… _Fly._ He’d been right, to guess the thin threads were wings waiting for the wind to catch under them, because as she danced they flew out behind her, catching her as she fell, raising her up once more. He’d only ever seen one thing as freeing and as beautiful as her.

A lump grows in his throat and his eyes begin to water as she jumps and spins, spins, and spins in the air, landing gracefully and skating backward and low to the ground, she turns again, her legs in and out, in and out, in and out, in complicated legwork before… he loses sight of her. She’s flying so fast and so high, it’s blinding. The song comes to a slow and she moves to the middle of the rank before raising her leg and spinning… spinning… spinning… spinning… getting lower and lower with each spin before she flies out fast and easy like a predator with her next meal. She glides for a while, allowing the momentum to pull her until she slows, heading to the barrier where her jacket is, a bench just out of skater-sight where her water bottle is.

He watches as she feels for it before finding it and taking a few large gulps. This is how she catches him, drinking from her water bottle; a gust of air blows through the window, warm yet cold from the early Autumn that had greeted them a few days prior. She chokes, covering her mouth and nose with her hand as she struggles to swallow. When she does, she coughs hard, freehand now resting on the barrier rather than covering her lower face. Drink bottle in hand she skates over to him slowly, a frown on her lips.

“The rink is closed…”

Daryl swallows before grunting softly. “Mm-hmm…”

She opens her mouth to speak again before there’s a loud crash and moan in the change room. Her nose wrinkles and her lips pull back in disgust, the way only a child can do it. “Oh… Did Elizabeth let you in?”

“Mm-hmm…”

“She's in there with your friend.” It wasn’t a question, making Daryl wonder how many times _Elizabeth_ had done this.

“Brother.”

The girl smiles as he speaks, leaning on the barrier, though her posture was anything but suggestive, friendly yes but not suggestive – which he was grateful for; there was no way in hell he’d play with anyone, especially a child who probably didn’t even have her period. “You ain’t gonna…?”

She glances at the room, her head turning with the movement before she’s looking at him through her hair again. “Nuh… To prissy.”

Snorting, she glides back to the shelf, returning with a roast beef sandwich. His stomach grumbles softly and she offers it to him. “Here. I’m not going to eat it, trust me.”

“You a vegetarian or somethin’?” He climbs down from the seats, a small smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

“Sadly. I love meat like a lover, but it hates me with a passion, or at least the protein in it does.” She chuckles, finally brushing her hair out of her eyes to reveal the prettiest pair of blue eyes he’d ever seen. They were… indescribable; simply because a description of them wouldn’t do any justice. 

Taking the sandwich, he opens the plastic container before biting into it. “Shame.”

Slowly nodding, she rests her head in her hands, elbows on the barrier and just watches him until he shifts about. Realising she’d made him somewhat uncomfortable she looks away. “Sorry, bad habit. So… normally, I’m not one to talk much but… when Elizabeth sleeps with a guy and another guy waits out here, it means she’s set us up… but you haven’t hit on me yet…”

“Nuh… You’re, what? Twelve?”

“Thirteen.”

“Still a kid. I ain't a pedophile.” She raises her hands slightly, smiling warmly despite his defensive and somewhat angry vocals.

“Wasn’t suggesting it… Thanks, for not hitting on me and stuff. You’re the first and I’ve been coming here a few months now.” He nods and it’s silent again for a bit. “Elizabeth isn’t my friend.”

“Hmm?”

“Mm-hmm. She says I’m her friend when she doesn’t want the extra guy for later… but she isn’t… I mean, I’d get upset if she died or worry if she got hurt or something… but I don’t think she likes me enough to be a friend… You know?”

“Acquaintance.”

“What’s that mean? ‘M tired.”

Glancing at her, he took notice of the dark rings under her eyes where pale, almost translucent skin should have been. “A person you know but aren’t close with.”

Frowning, she’d looked at the ceiling before glancing back at him, watching him chew slowly for a moment before looking away. Normally he’d swallow the sandwich in two seconds flat, a habit he’d picked up because of his brother stealing his food, or lack of food, but when it came to her… he didn’t want to, didn’t need to. “Nuh-uh… She’s too close to be an acquaintance but not close enough to be a friend… Is there a word for that?”

“I don’ know.”

Nodding slowly, he watches as she practically hangs over the barrier, wondering when she’ll fall to his side, though some part of him knowing she probably won’t. “I guess she could be counted as an acquaintance, a close one though… someone I can say I know… Right?”

“Mm-hmm.” The share a smile before he finishes the last of his sandwich. “I don’t talk much either.”

“So, we bring the voice out of each other… That’s nice. And we can sit in silence too… You don’t feel pressured in silence, right?”

“Nuh-uh.”

She hums softly, and he watches as she straightens and sways side to side slightly. “Will you come back again?”

“Probably… My brother…”

“And Elizabeth…” They nod at each other, rather than finish that complicated sentence because who the heck knew what Merle and Elizabeth called whatever they were doing. “So… We’re acquaintances?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“That means we can be friends… right?”

Daryl nods slowly, lips turning up in the corners. “Yeah…”

Just then Merle storms out of the change room, laughing loudly. The girl jumps slightly before leaning forward toward him, her voice soft and hair in her face like a mask again. “I can tell we’ll be close friends, so you can call me Tressa.”

“Daryl!” Sighing, he turns toward his brother as he waves him over in annoyance. Silently, he raises a hand to the girl. She smiles before pushing off the barrier, a silent hand raising in return. Following Merle out the door, he huffs in slight annoyance when Merle begins to give him shit. “That the friend? She’s fine.”

Daryl rolls his eyes, getting in the passenger seat and resting his head on his hand; he’s somewhat glad she is so young now. Merle wasn’t a pedophile and didn’t like people assuming. The girls he’d always fucked were of age, no exceptions. “She’s thirteen.”

“Oh damn! She’ll be a real babe when she’s older. You didn’t tap that bird, did you?”

Glaring at his brother, Daryl shoots up straight. “No!”

“Just making sure, brother.”

From that day onward for nearly three months, he’d visited Tressa whenever he had the chance. It was always at the ice rink because he’d learned that she was almost always there. He also learned she had a younger brother, that he was three and mostly took naps in the office because their current carer was away, and Elizabeth’s father was their carer’s close friend. It’s also why she’d been allowed to skate so late after closing time, and why Elizabeth insisted on calling her a friend despite their age difference and lack of friendship-behavior. He’d seen her brother once or twice from behind, normally when he’d used the bathroom before leaving and came out to see her standing by the door with her brother clinging to her like a melting marshmallow.

Each time he’d come around, he’d enter through the window he’d first cracked; turns out, she blocked everything out when she skated. Since she couldn’t hear knocking on the door, she’d stuck a note telling him to climb through the window. Each time he entered it was past closing time and she was already skating… or trying to. A lot of the time she’d be working on a routine. That’s another thing he’d learned about her; she was good enough to do competitions but, short of a few bets placed on her when she’d skate publicly (which she always accepted with a fire in her eyes but only ever took half of the money when she won and let them keep the rest), she refused.

Her passion was in skating, for herself, not for others to see and judge.

Whenever he’d come by, there’d always be a sandwich waiting on the benches, each time a little closer to the rank until he stood at the barrier watching her, handing her the water bottle when she’d come over. Each sandwich had a little sticky note telling him what it was, with weirdly drawn smiley faces, sometimes she'd even drawn little hands; she explained later that she'd found out her brother was mostly deaf and she liked to draw the hand signs for particular things like sandwiches.

And this is how he finds himself standing at the barrier, sandwichless, and watching her in confusion. She hasn't skated yet, her arms limp at her sides and head hung. She’d been like this for a while, probably since before he’d even arrived; the rink wasn't open to the public today. All he knew was Elizabeth was still standing at the barrier, watching, waiting… and finally, it happens.

Tressa takes a deep breath.

And…

_SCREAMS._

She screams so loud both Elizabeth and Daryl need to cover their ears. She screams, and screams, and screams. Her hands come up and tangle in her strands as she just _screams_. Daryl’s about to step onto the ice before Elizabeth catches his arm. She glares before shaking her head and moving to the music booth. The songs he’d come to know off by heart, a musical number called _Cold_ by Jorge Méndez and another called _Undeniable_ by a Jeff something and a Tommy something, isn’t what plays. This song is mostly guitar and the notes are familiar enough that he knows it’s the one he hears her humming when they call it a day.

 For a moment, she continues to scream before slowly going silent and skating, skating, skating, and flying. He’d watched, confusion and unshed tears in his eyes, knowing whatever’s happened is bad; Tressa, he’d noticed, was never one to show when she was sad. Yeah, there were sad smiles in moments she’d think he hadn’t noticed, but never anything else. He’d asked her once, why she tried to be so happy around him and she’d simply said; _When I first met you, and even now, I could tell that you were the same as me; you’re sad and mad and hurt just like I am. We both know that the world is sad and mad and hurting enough that we don’t need to show it to anybody, not even each other. I think… when we do show each other… it’ll be the end… and I don’t want it to end. Never._

He had understood her, up until she’d said it would be the end. Daryl couldn’t understand what would end, was it the world? Their friendship? Whichever or whatever the end was… he didn’t want it to end either. So, he’d silently agreed with her, pushing aside the dread. But now… the dread was back with vengeance, scratching, clawing, and eating away at him because he’d seen what she said would lead to the end. She still flew across the ice but, rather than looking like a predator hunting for her prey, she looked like she was mourning for something… or worse, someone.

Daryl waited at the barrier, watching her. Elizabeth stayed for a while before leaving and Merle hadn’t bother even coming; he hadn’t bothered since he’d finished with Elizabeth a few weeks in. When Tressa had calmed down, it was way past the time they normally left the rink, the sun was completely gone now. The young girl skated over to him, wiping her eyes quickly and putting on that happy-sad-smile. “Hey, want to get a drink?”

This had happened a few times, not many, but a few; each time her little brother was with the owner of the ice rink. At first, he’d questioned her, thinking she’d meant alcohol. She’d laughed and lead him to a late-closing café. An elderly man she’d greeted as Moby smiled at them upon arrival and asked for what he’d want; apparently, he’d stay open just so she could have a largely oversized mug of hot chocolate every night. Not knowing what else to order, he asked for the same thing as her and it had been their drinking order ever since. Nodding slowly, he helps her off the ice. “Okay…”

He waited as she changed into a warmer set of clothes and sneakers before walking out with her. She’d put her other clothes into a small duffel bag, skates included, and it flopped over her shoulder. When they reach the café, Tressa isn’t the only one seeming a little down because Moby’s creaking bones are grinding, and his hand is on his back while he brings things over. Tressa is quick to take the drink and pull up a chair for him, convincing him to sit since no other customers are in. “You okay, mate?”

“Could be a little better, girl… Old bones and all…”

Tressa blanches slightly but quickly smiles to cover it up, but not fast enough for Daryl to miss. So, the three of them sit quietly, each drinking because the young girl had been quick to grab a drink for both males before the elderly could. When Moby calls it a night, he hands her the keys, telling her to lock up; this had only happened one other time when his granddaughter had been in a car accident on their second visit. When he’s safely upstairs, Tressa sighs and slumps in the seat as if a weight has been taken off her shoulders. Daryl knew that the action alone was unusual for her.

“I have a question…”

“Hmm?”

“What did you see when you first saw me skate?” She stares at him, her cup slowly lowering as his does too. “What do you see?”

The question alone makes Daryl feel exposed, like the first time he’d had sex only to find out Merle and his friends had set it up and laughed at him; he didn’t really like sex, had only done it because the girl had insisted. Only now, the question seemed far worse. He had no words to describe how exposed he felt, exposed, embarrassed, and so many other muddled feelings of emotions. Yet, with a small encouraging smile from the girl, he’s able to answer with ease. “I’ve only ever seen one thing like you… “

She smiled at him, a true smile this time, as tears peeked out the corner of her eyes. Rising to her feet, both their cups now empty, she drags him out the store, locking it behind her. Once outside, she hugs him tightly. “Thank you…”

Daryl isn’t sure what for, since he'd only told her what she reminded him of, but hugs her tiny frame back none the less, her faced buried in his chest, and his in her hair. Her hair smelled of petrichor and wild figs. He knew from the times that he’d hugged her when she stood on steps to be of an equal height that her skin smelt of milk and honey with faint traces of Magnolia flowers. He only knew the flower’s smell when she’d given him a single flower; it was beautiful, a single thread of leather wrapped a couple of times over it with beads and a Kestrel’s feather at the end. He’d silently promised to keep it on him always, for the rest of his life.

They’d left it at that, saying good night and heading home. The next few days were harder to leave to see her with Merle complaining and high as a kite. When Daryl did manage to get back to the rink, she was gone. He’d returned multiple times, as if she’d magically appear out of thin air, trying to ignore the dread and knowledge that their last day together had been just that; their last. Each time he arrived, Elizabeth would glare at him until she eventually screamed at him. “What the hell are you doin’ here? Huh? She ain’t coming back! So, just leave! You’re worse than your brother!”

Daryl stared at her before sitting down, glaring at the ice. “I ain’t like him… and she’ll come back…”

She merely snorted before storming off, muttering something about him being a dog. It was a few weeks later, almost a month, of Daryl reappearing repeatedly every single day and staying until being forced out before Elizabeth caved; it was so bad that he and Jimmy, the ice rank owner and Elizabeth's father, were on a first name basis. Jimmy locked up the office and sighed, staring at the bench where Daryl was sitting, looking at the ice as if the girl he’d grown close to would reappear. He’d been rough with Daryl in the beginning, forcing him up and out, until he’d asked why he stays.

“He misses her, you know?” Elizabeth looks at her father, who’d yet to look away from the other male. “I asked him, why he was so interested in her… He said she understood him, in a way not even his brother does. That they were friends…”

“And you believe him?”

Jimmy is silent before smiling down at his daughter. “If you’d been there, you would too.” And it was true; Jimmy had never witnessed any emotion from Daryl until then. The other male had broken down outside the rink's building, face in his hands as he’d explained everything that had happened between the two. Jimmy had merely listened and watch, not realizing until that point that Daryl wasn’t emotionless but broken, that his friendship with the girl meant a lot because she gave him something nobody else had; she’d given respect, treated him as an equal, and loved him. And Daryl had given it back.

Elizabeth stared at Daryl in a new light; Jimmy wasn’t an easy person to get on your side, but when he was… Heading back into the locker rooms after telling her dad she’d get him to leave, she returns with an envelope clasped between her fingers. Walking over, she thrusts the letter in his face. Daryl jerks, staring at it before looking up at her. “Hurry and take it, dog.”

Grunting, he takes it before flicking it over. In a messy scrawling writing is his name. Frowning, he glances at her, vaguely wondering if this is a trap. Huffing, she gestures for him to open it before turning on her heels. Quickly, Daryl jumps to his feet and grabs her elbow gingerly. “What is this?”

Snorting, Elizabeth yanks her arm free. “Need I explain everything?” She goes to leave again before sighing and facing him once more. “It’s from her…”

Immediately, his curious expression hardens into a glare. “Why?”

Elizabeth puffs her cheeks, something that looked adorable on Tressa, looking mildly infuriating on her. “I thought you were like Merle… I wasn't going to give it to you because I thought you were just here for a fuck and would leave in time… but my dad… He says he trusts you, with Tressa… And it’s a- “

“Cosmic law that whoever Jimmy trust is worth it…. I know… She told me…”

Nodding, she glances at the door, knowing her father is waiting there. “Yeah… So, you already know. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t give it to you… I was wrong.”

He grunts softly, muttering an alright before leaving her. He waves to Jimmy as he exits the building, heading down the street to his pick-up. When safely in the cab, he gingerly opens the envelope, half expecting it to disintegrate between his fingers. Pulling it out, he reads it and rereads it before sobbing softly, finally accepting the fact that she was indeed gone.

** End FLASHBACK **

 

Daryl still had both the letter and the Magnolia flower in his back pocket, the flower pressed between the letters pages, and had refused to remove it in case he lost it, unless it was to put them in a cleaner pair he’d changed into. He remembered now; why that infuriating itch wouldn’t go away, why it was relentless, why he’d made a promise to a boy he didn’t know he could keep, and why he was so powerless to fight against the memories. Shortly after he read that letter, Merle had managed to convince him he was truly worthless, only destined to be his big brother’s shadow, but before… She had made him feel important, like he was someone, that he could do or be anything he wanted, especially when she would stand by his side and give his fingers a little squeeze or stand up for him in public when people muttered in their direction.

Swallowing, Daryl forces himself to the here and now as they close in on Woodbury, the sun long gone. Glenn and Maggie were inside, but, more importantly, was the girl who showed him that wings weren’t impossible to have… The girl he was forced to forget… The girl he’d started to love.

They stare at the wall from over a car's hood; with guards, weapons, and lights on top, it’ll be damn near impossible to get in without a miracle. These guys weren’t stupid, they knew what they were doing if the walkers scattered across the ground meant anything. But Daryl knew that somewhere, there’d be a way in, there had to be because if there was a God, they wouldn’t let three innocent people die. Some childish part of Daryl even argued that the good guys would always win and that his group, his family, they were the good guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> You know how this works ^_^ 
> 
> So, for any curious minds when the outbreak first started Daryl was in his Late 30s - Early 40s (This information was given by the game Survival Instinct) and when in The Walking Dead he is Early to Mid 40s (this is provided by the walking dead wiki). So from that information, I'd guess him to be 37-39 in the game, 40 in TWD and around 27-30 in flashbacks.  
> I don't know if I've mentioned Tressa's age before but I'm making it 23 and in Flashbacks, she was about 13. 
> 
> For those that are judging my Daryl POV and saying how he isn't very big on words, kiss my butt. I saw a deleted scene (I'm pretty sure we've all seen it) about what happened to the Vatos group... [SPOILER] Andrea picked at Daryl for using the word "observant" and he mentioned something along the lines of her getting a dictionary and I was reminded of Eminem and the fact that he would spend hours a night reading a dictionary to expand his vocabulary and... well, I guess it was something I could see Daryl doing. Now, I'm big on words but not dictionary big, no way near it, but I'm actually trying really hard especially when it comes to Daryl.
> 
> Also, I know their relationship is a little weird, I kind of based it on me and my relationship with my best friend; I'm a year older than her and it was weird back when we were kids to be friends with someone younger than you (Mind you I have a habit of only making friends older or younger than me). As we hit our teenage years it got even weirder for me because I developed feelings and she did not. We're still friends though. My point is that I feel you always love someone, including friends, and that won't change for Daryl or Tressa, they'll love each other, but unlike me, both of their love will blossom into something else, not just one of 'em.
> 
> P.S. I actually did read someone that a Warrior Wasps sting feels like "Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano." It was said by a Justin Schmidt, I believe. I remember because it seemed like the worst thing to be stung by in the entire world. It's meant to have the electrical pulse of a Tarantual hawk sting AND the pain of a Bullet Ant sting, all the while feeling like you're being stung repeatedly for two whole hours. 
> 
> P.P.S. That protein meat thing is actually a thing. I actually based that on me. I love meat but the protein in it and a few other things make me sick as a dog.
> 
> If anyone has any objections to this story so far, or how it's playing out, let me know.


	7. Chap. 5 - Beaten Pulps & Strong Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tressa finds herself in a tight situation and figures out that there may be more to the word "home" than she originally thought. 
> 
> Set in Season 3 Episode 7 - "When The Dead Come Knocking"  
> Days since Outbreak: +310

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING; BLOOD, VIOLENCE, AND OFFENDING COMMENTS!  
> You've been warned.

**_ Chapter Five _ **

_ Tressa _

A soft wail escapes Tressa, as she feels something touching right where there’s an aching pain. She flails slightly, pushing away the hands clumsily before becoming violent the more they persist on touching her. Then more hands are grabbing at her, causing her to whine as she begins to slip away again. Tressa has no idea that the person touching her is a man named Milton, nor has she got any idea that he is actually trying to help, and she definitely has no idea that she’d broken his nose before others intervened to stop her from injuring him further.

Tressa doesn’t have an idea of much that happens, to be honest, but being in and out of consciousness can do that to a person. She doesn’t remember waking up a few more times, each time hurting someone different, until they refuse to help unless she’s properly restrained. She doesn’t remember breaking free of her binds twice after that or breaking Milton’s glasses. She doesn’t remember them tying her down in such a way that her wrist and ankles are cut without her even moving… She doesn’t remember throwing her head back and screaming like the dead, causing further damage to herself as Milton was trying to patch her up and stabbed the needle just inches from her eye, rather than where it was meant to go along her scalp.

What Tressa does know is that she hears things while she’s fighting, whether she’s remembering them as she rouses or it’s happening now… she can’t tell. She can hear them though, and that’s what matters because she knows they could most likely hear her, that if something happened they could say she put up a fight, just like she would for them. Because it was true. She knows it to be.

These were such times she could remember.

Tressa could hear it, the scrapping of a knife being dragged as if nails on a chalkboard in her ears, then she’d heard the last voice, the voice that caused all this. Merle. “You don’t even know why you’re here, do you? I didn’t mean you no harm. I lowered my gun, but you raised yours. You were an asshole out there, just like you were on that rooftop back there in Atlanta. What y’all did, leaving me up there… people wouldn’t do that to an animal.”

“We went back for you.”

“Ain’t you thoughtful?”

“We did, all of us. Rick, Daryl, T-Dog.”

“Mm, T-Dog. Yeah, big ol’ spear-chucker, the one I was pleading with. Mm-hmm, the one that dropped the key. Tell me where he’s at.”

**_Tell me where he’s at, I’ll beat the fuck outta him._ **

**_Just leave it, Merle… Merle, please!_ **

Tressa shakes her head clear, struggling to keep up with them while the dark fuzziness eats away at her mind, struggling between now and the past. “-didn’t make it.”

“Well, I hope he went slow.”

**_You stay outta this! I’ll kill him, nice and real slow._ **

**_Merle, she said leave it. Jesus! What? You interested in her now?_ **

**_Shut your mouth!_ **

Tressa gags on her own saliva at the voices, trying to dislodge them, to keep listening to the ones _here_. “-and over here feels good, don’t it? I remember you. Yeah. You’re the sneaky one, the one with nerve. You don’t scare easy, do you? I like that. Now, I wanna know where my brother is.”

A soft sound from further down makes Tressa swallow, realizing that Maggie can hear everything, just like she can, including his struggles. “I wanna know where the sheriff is.” It also means she can hear Tressa choking on a laugh when she hears the crunch of cartilage and Merle’s complaining; no doubt, Glenn had broken his nose.

But Tressa’s choking laughter is cut short as she hears Merle deliver blow after blow upon Glen, shouting demands that Tressa herself could never, and would never, answer; she can only hope neither Glenn nor Maggie would answer either. “Now, I wanna know where they’re hiding, where your camp is, and I wanna know now. I wanna know now! Where the hell are they? Tell me!”

Tressa sits, head hanging against her chest as she listens to Merle and Glenn; she’d blacked out a few times as if taking Merle’s blows herself… something she wished she could do more than ever to spare Glenn the pain he was no doubt in. The only silver lining in this was that Glenn was still hanging in there, refusing to answer.

More grey clouds though; she’d finally register just how tight her bindings were. The rope was so tight around her wrists that her hands were stuck in mid-air, not allowing her to grasp at the arms of the chair, and her legs… oh boy. They’d wrapped her legs around the chair’s legs and tied the rope around knees and the skinniest part of her ankle, right around the ankle bone, and then connected one foot to the other with another rope so she had no movement in her legs, or feet, at all. It was so tight that even without moving, Tressa could feel it rubbing, scraping, away at her layers of skin and meat, soaking the ropes in blood. It also felt weird because her knees were tied together but her legs were not.

“I’ll bake a cake with pink frosting.”

Snorting, she looks to the wall and takes a deep breath, hoping her next words may bring a little smile to her friend's faces. “I WANTED ORCHID PURPLE FROSTING, YOU FUCK!”

Whether her comment is heard or not, Tressa still sniggers softly, though they soon turn to tears as she struggles once more to clear her thoughts and stay with her friends rather than float in her own body.

“He’s gonna do nothing, not if he wants you and Bo Peep and that faggot back. Think I’m in this by myself?”

Tressa stops listening, staring up at the ceiling, despite the pain the action gave her. Another silver lining; she didn’t feel the need to pass out, even though her thoughts were still very muddled. Grey clouds; Tressa knew that someone would no doubt be in here soon to interrogate her.

Silver lining; Rick would come for Maggie and Glenn.

Merle left shortly after that, the twang in Tressa’s gut playing up again. “Glenn?”

“Than?” His voice is soft, the walls between them blocking most of it out. “You alright?”

“Probably not for much longer… Glenn, remember that time when I saved your life?”

“Than, now is probably – “

“Do you remember?” Even without seeing him and with the walls between them, she knows he sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Yeah… You said I should stay, that I shouldn’t leave after delivering the pizza. Went as far as forcing me into your apartment and sharing your pizza; something you’d never done before. I thought you were insane, that you’d finally lost your marbles until you let me go. The road I’d planned on taking back… There had been an accident, a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and twenty people died… I would have died… You called it a twang in your gut or something.”

“Yeah…. I had it before, at the store, but I ignored it. I don’t know why… and I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine… Just…. Just say something next time… I can’t do this again, Maggie either.”

“Okay…Hey, Glenn?”

“Yeah?”

“I got a twang in my gut.” Than looks away as she hears the two sharp intakes of breath, knowing Maggie was also listening. “I got a twang in my gut like in that accident…” The rest of her sentence hangs in the air, silent but easily cutting through all their ears. _Like someone is going to die…_

It’s in that moment that both girls can hear Glenn struggle in his restraints, refusing to give in. Growling groans and snarling breaths flow down the hallway before they hear Merle’s Georgian accent as he puts himself in Glenn’s cell room again… only this time with a Flesh-Eater. Than holds her breath, fingers curling as she listens, slowly rocking back and forth in her chair, unconsciously rocking harder the longer they’re in that room, the ropes cutting deeper.

“All righty, I want you to imagine how I felt fightin’ my way off that roof; one hand, losing blood, walkers chomping down at me every step of the way. Last chance. Where’s your group?” Glenn stays silent, refusing to answer and some part of Than soars at how strong he is, while the other part drops like a sack of potatoes at the thought of losing her friend. “All right. Suit yourself. You’re a pretty big snack for this fella. But you know what they say; he’s gonna be hungry again in an hour, so hungry he’ll eat that faggot. Go! Run, boy!”

The door closes, and Than cries out, shouting Glenn’s name as she hears him struggle. She hangs her head as everything falls silent finally, waiting for something, anything, and finally hears it when Glenn screams. “Glenn!?”

She doesn’t get a response at first but then his broken voice is heard through the wall. “Tressa?”

Than gags as the name reaches her ears, voice soft. “It’s Than, now.”

More silence commences before Than hears him sigh. “Than… I-I’m fine… I wasn't bitten.”

Nodding to herself, she swallows the lump in her throat. “Glenn, I need you to get out of here, take Maggie with you… If it comes down to it, I need you to leave me behind.”

“Wha-no! I won’t do that!”

“You ain’t got no choice! Listen to me! Maggie won’t leave, but I need her to, I need her to leave. You’re my friend… You know when I say something like this, I mean it. Rick will come, but not for me, not intentionally, because he doesn’t know me. He’ll come for the both of you first. If he finds me before he finds you, that’ll just be a bonus. I need you to make sure there is no bonus. If you don’t escape with Maggie, then something worse will happen. Do you understand?”

“Than, I- “

“Glenn… Please…” Than swallows, hushing him as he goes to reply, only catching his soft _okay_ before her door is pushed open and Merle enters. If she strains her ears, she’s able to hear another man already working away at Maggie.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. So, tell me; I ain’t never seen you before, how’d you meet the others?” Than stays silent, staring at the strangely familiar man, his anger slowly rising the quieter she remains. “Ain’t much of a talker, are you? That’s okay…”

He lets the silence swallow them and, in that moment, she can hear Maggie being assaulted. A soft whimper escapes her as she looks at the ceiling, murmuring softly. Merle laughs hard. “Oh boy! You’re one of those guys! All religious and shit. You know, for a while, when I first saw you, I thought you were a girl, but you’re one of those cross-dressing weirdos, ain’t ya.”

Snorting, Than glares, barely hearing the man leaving Maggie, or at least the door closing. “Why? You into that kind of thing? I got a question, how’s your nose? It’s been broken, what… twice now?”

Merle frowns but before he can reply, Than smashes her forehead against his nose, much like Glenn had, only this time the crunch is louder. Merle, having been crouched in front of her chair, falls flat on his ass with a soft wail while Than merely hoots with laughter, tears trailing down her face; people always forget to mention how much it hurt headbutting or even punching someone, Than was sure she’d have passed out if her head wasn’t so goddamn thick. It was one thing to thank the kids that picked on her for; they always liked smashing her head against shit… Guess it finally came in handy.

The older male snarls, spitting blood at her before wailing on her, much like he had done to Glenn, only this time with no questions asked. Than had gotten Merle mad, and he was gladly showing her who the top dog was… even if he didn’t know she was a girl. It lasted for a while, until Than could barely move a finger without pain hitting her but she stayed silent, lent forward and unable to keep the blood from escaping her; some of it reminded her of a bloody, red, waterfall, more so were it trickled past her lips, gathering before flowing into her lap.

Merle’s gone now, and Glenn’s been calling Than’s name softly. She tries to say something back to him, reassure him that she’s fine and to keep his promise, but no words will leave her, only blood. Maggie is silent, gone in fact. Both had heard Maggie being taken from her cell moments ago; Than could only guess what was to come now, the twang in her gut an unscratchable itch dancing among her internal organs that made her want to gut herself just to scratch it. The itch itself had her near in tears, forget the pain Merle had caused.

Sagging further into herself, she gags on a few choice words, though the only words that come out are anything but, twisted into a prayer she hopes her goddess can hear. Than didn’t believe in just one god, choosing to smash them all together. The main deities she often prayed to is the god of those who called themselves Christians, and the Moon Goddess of those known as Wiccan; as these were the main two religions she was raised in. Sometimes, a few other gods and goddesses would find their ways into her prayers, like those of Greek, Norse, or even the Native American deities. It came down to who or what she was praying for at the time. This time… it was to them all.

“Dear gods and goddesses… Help save those who are doomed to die, who are destined to go in the hours that follow, and protect those who are likely the doomed, even if it is not in your place. Let them come out alive…” The door to Glenn’s cell opens, cutting her prayer short, though she was struggling with getting just those words out anyway.

 “Uh-uh.” Both Glenn and Than choke slightly at Merle’s reappearance, but something further sets Glenn off, which another man shuts down quickly.

“Hey! Drop it.” It’s quiet for a moment before the clattering of wood on cement echoes; meaning Glenn had done as he was told.

A shiver runs down Than’s spine, causing her to grumble in pain as it jolts her injuries, as another voice sounds, this voice one she’d heard assaulting Maggie earlier. “We’re through with games. Now one of you is gonna give up your camp.”

It’s silent as Than slowly realizes why Glenn listened, that Maggie was no doubt in there as well. It’s further confirmed when the soft click of a gun being cocked sounds followed by Maggie’s quick answer. “The prison.”

“The one near Nunez?”

“That place is overrun.”

“We took it.” Maggie’s voice is filled with tears, though Than knows that she’d never let them see it.

“How many are you?” Swallowing, she stares at the wall dividing them, silently willing Maggie not to answer, or at least not to answer correctly, to leave the baby and two boys out of it.

“Ten… We have ten now.” Sagging forward, Than sighs, upset but glad all the same. She’d missed counting the baby, but she’d counted Tetsuya, that much Than knew. Maggie was a weird counter when it came to it; always counting from oldest to youngest. It’s how Than knew she’d missed the baby girl back home…

 _Home_ … was that what the prison was now? A home? Or was it simply that home was her brother and her brother was there? She couldn’t have gotten attached to everything in such a short amount of time, not enough so that they’d be her home too… but she had known the Greene’s and Glenn from Before… Shaking her head quickly to dislodge all the confusing thoughts, Than hears Maggie’s sobs, the door closing having help break her train of thought. She listened as Maggie sobbed into Glenn, both mingling their souls into one, trying to repair the damage done to one another… All while Tressa was still tied down in another room, blood vacating her veins to colour the floor a crimson red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos <3  
> Comment!  
> You know how this works ^_^ 
> 
> I'd like to quickly mention that yes, Merle is a bad guy but he isn't THE bad guy; he doesn't rape or play around with those underaged, just like, if it came down to it, I don't believe he would ever HIT a woman - and you can fight me on it but that is what I believe. The thing is, Merle doesn't know Than is a female, he thinks she's a "Little-cross-dressing-gay-fag", and let's face it... I don't think Merle would be a big person for gays and stuff (I'm sorry if that offends anyone - I'm not against gays and normally don't apologize but my gay best-friend pointed out that, while I don't give a f*ck to what or who or where anyone is from, I quite often come out with something offensive or really freaking mean). 
> 
> P.S. Did ya get my little hint? (SPOILER) in Daryl's memories, Merle never met Than personally, right? Yet, somehow, she has memories of Merle? Hmmmmmmmmmm..... XD 
> 
> Oh, the next chapter may be late; I'm struggling to write and I have a house inspection coming up and the house looks like a bomb hit it!

**Author's Note:**

> So, let me know what you think.


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